After the Storm
by hollow echos
Summary: AU events following episodes “The Storm” and “The Eye.” They’ve survived the storm and the Genii invasion but the worst is yet to come. An exhausted and tortured Rodney is run through the gamut again. Primarily Rodney whump, hint of Sora/Rodney pairing.
1. No End in Sight

**Disclaimer – **As much as I wish SGA were mine (and I really wish it were a whole lot!), it isn't. I am borrowing the characters, setting, and plot temporarily.

**Summary** – AU events following episodes "The Storm" and "The Eye." They've survived the hurricane and a Genii infiltration, the worst is over, right? Maybe not. The trouble's just beginning. Rodney's been tortured, he's exhausted, but Atlantis and its inhabitants are calling upon him to save them once again. Rodney whump abounds.

**Rating –** PG-13 for blood and violence, maybe some language later on.

**Genres –** Hurt/Comfort, Action & Adventure

**Spoilers** – Any episodes up through "The Storm" and "The Eye"

**Author's notes – **Well, this is my first Stargate Atlantis fan fiction. I actually arrived here in a backwards manner. I read a ton of fan fiction for SGA over the last year and am thoroughly spoiled, but finally decided it was time to start watching the series so that I could write for the fandom as well. I am currently about half way through Season 1 so this is set right after "The Storm" and "The Eye." The story starts in the gate room right after the tsunami hits the shield and diverges into an AU from there.

This story will be primarily Rodney whump, there will be no pairings. I tend to write longer fics and my goal is to finish this one around 50k words. This story is not beta-ed so all mistakes made are my own. Please bear with me, this is my first SGA fic but I am excited to finally be writing for SGA!

Reviews are nice if you feel inclined to do so, but either way, please enjoy the story!

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**After the Storm**

**Chapter One: No End in Sight**

It felt like everyone had been holding their breath for the last twenty four hours. Most people had been worrying from afar, gated offworld to Menara where they had ridden out the storm. The Athosians had worried whether their settlement would be destroyed. City residents had worried whether the city would be destroyed in the coming storm. And all of these worries had been rolled up into a neat little ball and settled on the shoulders of one Rodney McKay. He'd done just what they had asked, had pulled another miracle out of thin air and once again saved the day.

He couldn't quite believe it. They'd survived a hurricane the size of a continent with the city intact. They'd survived a Genii invasion with minimal casualties. He had survived being held hostage by a hostile military commander. You would think that would be the difficult part. In the gate room he had pressed the button to raise the shield. No, he would never admit being nervous, he would never admit to his other blue shirts that under his breath he may have muttered a prayer to whoever might be listening. He was Rodney McKay, always supremely confident regardless of the odds. He had watched the tsunami split around their precious city and leave it largely intact. Relieved smiles had broken out across the faces of his friends, breathless smiles, the kind of shared intimacy that follows any calamity survived together.

Elizabeth pulled her eyes away from the window where water was running down from the shield and dripping back into the ocean in the wake of the tsunami. "Nice job Rodney."

"Did you ever doubt me?"

"Yes, several times."

"Well I pulled it off didn't I? The city's saved, no one died."

Sheppard chose that moment to jump in. "We get it McKay, you did good. We did lose two men, but that was the Genii, there was nothing you could have done there. You did well. I hate to cut this moment short but we have other things to worry about. Like all of our people on Menara. We need to get started on bringing them back. Teyla, how is Beckett doing? He looked a little dazed on the way in."

Beckett had slumped down in a chair, head resting against his hand, arm propped on the control panel. "I'm doin' alright. A little rough around the edges but doin' ok," he said, running his fingers over the bruising area on his forehead. "I should go set up in case there were any injuries in the evacuation."

Teyla raised an eyebrow, "With all due respect Dr., but you were unconscious for several minutes while my altercation with Sora elapsed. You yourself need to be examined by a medical officer for injuries."

"I wasn't unconscious, just a wee bit dazed! People will be needin' my help, I'm the only medical officer here right now-"

"Doc, you've been going in and out since you got up here and quite frankly I wouldn't trust you to walk a straight line right now without taking a nose dive."

"Ok, McKay, why don't you take Beckett here down to his infirmary? Keep him company until we get the gate open and I'll send a medical officer down. Ford, you and I will take Sora down to a holding cell until we can figure out what to do with her later. Elizabeth and Teyla, I'm putting you two on starting to bring people back to the city."

McKay raised his hand, "Sheppard-"

But he went on with his directions, "Get Menara dialed up, Teyla, you go through and tell everyone that it's safe to come back. Set up some chain of command on that side and then get back here so you can help Elizabeth with things here."

"What about the Athosians? They will want to go check the condition of their settlement."

"They'll have to stay put here for a little bit. I know it's not ideal, but hopefully it'll just be a few hours. Once we get all our people back here I can see about getting a scouting party shuttled back to the mainland to see how the settlement fared."

"SHEPPARD!" McKay moved forward a few steps from the column he had been leaning up against. "I know you have an endless energy reserve, but some of us need a few moments. We've all been running around for almost twenty-four hours-"

"McKay, for just one second can you put yourself second? There is no one else! It's us, we have to get this stuff done right now. You can take care of your personal business later."

McKay narrowed his eyes at this. "You think I haven't sacrificed for this? I-" He quickly closed his mouth and his eyes darted to the floor. He'd almost told Sheppard that what Kolya had done to him. His hand unconsciously moved over the slash in his arm. He quickly glanced over at Beckett to see if he had seen the gesture, thankfully he hadn't. The normally astute man would have been all over the wound if he hadn't been so dazed.

Refocusing, he thought to himself that Sheppard didn't need to know any more details about how he'd gone ahead and blabbed their plan, how weak Rodney McKay couldn't even withstand a bit of pain.

Elizabeth opened her mouth to jump in and fill in the details that Sheppard was missing but McKay beat her to it, shaking his head at her.

He took a deep breath and met Sheppard's gaze. "Look Sheppard, I haven't eaten anything more than a powerbar in the last twenty four hours. I need to snag a couple more and a cup of coffee if you want me on my feet. That and a dry change of clothes and I'll be good. I suggest you at least let Elizabeth go change as well. I know you were running around and getting shot at in here playing Rambo, but we were outside in that mess for a couple hours. I'm cold and I'm wet. Let me take care of that and then I'll get to work on organizing my scientists. There are a lot of repairs to be done."

Sheppard cocked his head slightly as if thinking about it and then gave a slight nod. "Fine, do it fast and get to work. Ford, you're with Beckett. I'll take Sora. Elizabeth, go change and then you and Teyla contact our people."

Ford's back straightened at this one. He'd had quite enough of Beckett today thank you very much. Him and his whining and complaining. "But sir, Beckett's not a military concern, prisoners," he said motioning at Sora, "on the other hand, are our business. McKay can suck it up and take Beckett for now. He's not the only one who's been out in this mess."

Beckett went from closed eyes to half hooded eyes, trying his hardest to freeze the spinning room and focus in on Rodney. Even if he was at slightly less than his best, Rodney was still a patient and a friend. He couldn't quite get the room to stop rocking, but even through blurred vision he could see McKay's creased brow. Something was bothering the man. "Rodney, if you aren't feelin' well perhaps you should come with me. I'll see if I can fix ya' up, maybe check your blood sugar, and we can wait for the rest of my staff to get back."

McKay visibly bristled at the suggestion. "Beckett, you know me, you're always complaining that I come running to you over a splinter. I need a bit of food and a change of clothes and I'll be ready to go."

Sheppard looked over at Ford while McKay and Beckett were bickering. He wasn't in the mood to argue with one of his soldiers. He was in charge and sometimes, just sometimes, he wished that people would just listen to him. "Ford, as a military officer, your primary responsibility is ensuring the safety and well-being of all residents of Atlantis, _especially _civilians. Is Beckett not a civilian? Has he not stitched up your bleeding hide on multiple occasions? Do it and don't complain." He grabbed Sora's arm, "I'm taking her and leaving. Let's get moving."

Ford scowled, mumbling something under his breath, having the intelligence to not complain loudly enough for Sheppard to hear. McKay chose that moment to slip out before Beckett managed to put together a coherent rebuttal or anyone else found something he needed to take care of.

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McKay arrived at his room, mentally commanding the door to open as he buzzed through, locking them behind him as he headed straight to the bathroom, stripping out of his coat and dropping the soaking wet article onto his floor on the way.

He grabbed his small first aid kit from under the sink, setting it on the closed toilet and popping the lid as he rifled through it for the items he wanted.

Standing at the sink he turned the faucet on, playing with the temperature and periodically testing it with a finger until it was at hot as he could stand it, steam rising from the sink.

He dipped his arm under the water, biting his lip as he did so. He grabbed a washcloth and gently washed the cut the best he could although it was still bleeding slightly. He pulled the wound open slightly, peering in to see how deep it went. He saw down past the muscle and caught a tinge of white. Bone. Kolya hadn't been kind. That knife hadn't been small. He was glad Elizabeth hadn't been there to see him.

"_Dr. McKay. I'll ask you once more politely. You didn't expect this city to survive the storm on its own. What's the plan?"_

"_There is no plan Kolya! Why do you think there's no one here? We were evacuating! I needed to run a few subprograms and then shut down all unnecessary power drains and I was leaving too."_

"_I said I would ask once and I did. Deans, pass me your knife. You and Sherden hold him."_

_The two soldiers grabbed him, one on each arm even as he tried to shake them off. _

"_Come on Kolya! This isn't funny! I would tell you if there was a plan, there isn't! Just let up!"_

_He had closed his eyes. He couldn't watch this._

_And then his world had lit on fire with pain, starting in his arm and racing along his nerve endings through the rest of his body. He held out for a moment longer, but then Kolya started spinning the knife around in the wound, shredding the edges, boring down deeper into his arm._

"_AAAHHH! Ok! I'll tell you! Stop! I'll tell you!"_

"_What was that Dr. McKay? I couldn't quite hear you; you kind of garbled your words when you screamed there."_

"_I'll tell you! Just stop…"_

Yes. He'd given in. Weak Rodney McKay couldn't last a minute under pressure. Some soldier he was. But science he could do, for now. Get his mind off it, fix the city. Deal with this baggage later.

He winced as he poured iodine into the wound, letting it bubble white foam over the edges of his skin before dabbing it out with a few bits of cotton and moving on to dressing it. He closed it the best he could with butterfly bandages which did a pitiful job of closing the wound, but it was the best he could do with the supplies he had. He threw a few gauze pads over the cut and wrapped an ace bandage around his arm. He finished by dry swallowing four Tylenol.

He put his medical case back, carefully slipping out of his soaked shirt and leaving it on the bathroom floor. He grabbed the towel off its hook with his good arm, toweling as dry as he could get before he left the bathroom for the closet in his room.

He snatched a long sleeved shirt off a shelf and threw it on. His jacket was wet and bloody, there would be no salvaging that one. He reached for his spare and threw that on as well before grabbing new pants and a pair of shoes that didn't slosh with every step. On his way out he stopped at the desk for a pair of power bars. Fifteen minutes after entering his room Rodney McKay exited, laptop tucked under his good arm as he made his way back to the control room to assess the damage to the city.

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	2. A Meeting of Military Egos

**Review Responses**

**ElisaD263** – Thanks! I'm working hard to get the characterization right. I am also a huge fan of Rodney whump fics. I must say I am very biased in that regard :)

**Kreek** – Yeah lol. I watched one episode of SGA with some friends and was in need of a new fandom to read fan fiction on so I started exploring and ended up reading exclusively SGA fics for six months and am just starting to write fics for it now. I am pretty excited for where this story is going too! I hope you enjoy the rest of the story!

**Asdo** – Thank you for your critique. It's always nice for it to be pointed out when something is a little bit off about a character. I tried to account for it here and to wind in my letting Sheppard take over a little too much in this chapter. I would love to hear if you thought these interactions rang a little bit truer.

**Llanea** –Thanks for the compliment! I am glad you are enjoying it. I do love this pair of episodes too and this plot bunny started running around my head the night after I watched the episodes. And I'll try to keep the updates coming in a timely manner. Now is a good time to write because I am on winter break from school.

**Bhemmen – **Thanks! It's always nice to hear what readers think. I hope you continue reading and enjoy the rest of the story. Please let me know if you have any suggestions as well.

**Crusoe89** – Thanks! I hope I can meet your hopes for this story. I have a lot of ideas floating around in my head and am trying to get them out as fast as I can. It seems I come up with ideas faster than I can wrack them out.

**Anonymous – **Thanks lol! Yeah, a bit of a roundabout way of arriving at the fandom, but it's worked out ok so far. I am thoroughly spoiled for basically all the seasons, but it is really neat to have all the holes in my knowledge of the fandom filled in as I go through the show. You learn a lot from reading fics, but some things are still left out that I am learning. And here is the next update as requested. I hope you keep with the rest of the story!

**Author's Note**

Well, here's chapter two. I hope everyone enjoys it! I apologize if this takes a few chapters to set up before the plot really starts to flow together. Right now I have characters all over the map working on different projects. They'll wrap those up and start together into the main plotline once I can get everything set up. Here we go!

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**Chapter 2: A Meeting of Military Egos**

The doors to the brig opened and lights automatically switched on as Sheppard and Sora walked in. He deactivated the shield to one of the cells and motioned her forward with a slight push forward.

"Look, I know it's not all that roomy, but this'll have to do for now."

Sora turned around to face him, "This is worse than nothing. This is…inhumane! I helped your people, I-"

She cut off mid-sentence as Sheppard whipped a knife out of his leg holster and took a step backwards.

"I was never for hurting any of your people….that was all Kolya-"

"Whoa, whoa, take it easy. I'm not about to cut you up into tiny pieces. A little to serial killer for my taste," he walked around back of her, Sora twisting to try to face him again and see what he was going to do with the blade.

"Just hold up for a sec," He stilled her for a moment with a hand on her shoulder as he reached down and sliced the plastic zip tie that had held her hands behind her back. She let her hands fall down to her sides, flexing her stiff muscles after their period of inactivity before rubbing at the red marks on her wrists where they had been secured.

"Thanks…I guess."

"I know you weren't for hurting my men, you helped bring Beckett back. Him and Teyla might not have made it otherwise. So thanks for that much. Although the point still stands that you were part of an attack on our city."

Sora seemed to wince a bit at this, like he had to remind her what she had done, why she was a prisoner. "What are you planning on doing with me?"

"I don't know yet. That will be largely for Dr. Weir to decide. For now, you are going to give me all the weapons that I know you have concealed on your person. And I do mean _all _of them if you would be so kind."

She looked a little alarmed at this, careful not to move her hands in any direction that might hint where exactly she had hidden her instruments, "I had one gun and one knife and they're both gone."

He smiled a bit at this, "Huh. Well, being a soldier and all, based on my personal experience, I know I don't go anywhere with less than a gun or two and several back-up knives. Kolya wasn't stupid, and you're pretty smart yourself, and I'm sure he taught you the same."

She scowled slightly, tapping her fingers against her leg as she decided what to do. Being weaponless wasn't exactly going to help her get out of here in the long run. She looked around the cell for any space that might do for hiding any of them. A twin bed with a thin mattress was bolted to the floor on one, the only furniture in the otherwise bare room. Slowly reaching down to her ankle, she removed a short serrated knife from her boot and slid it across the ground toward the major's feet.

"There, that's it. Now what?"

He tossed her an orange bundle. "Here's your new uniform. I've heard that orange is quite in this season."

She stood there awkwardly for a moment, staring at him for a moment.

He shrugged, "What?"

"I'll change once you step out."

"Demands, demands. Sheesh. Fine, I'm going. May as well not try anything, I'll be right outside and I'm coming back in three minutes. Leave your clothes on the bed if you could be so kind." He stepped out of the cell, reactivating the shield behind him and looking over his shoulder once more before leaving the brig, the doors whooshing closed behind him.

He leaned up against the wall facing the doors and tapped his headset, "Elizabeth, this is Sheppard. How are things going with you and Teyla?"

"Not much progress yet, I'm just getting back to the control room now."

"Manage to find a drier set of clothes? You looked pretty thoroughly soaked when we met up."

"Yeah, I feel about five pounds lighter after shedding my water logged uniform. Can't say much for the state of my hair though, it looks like a tangle of jungle vines right now. I'm glad Teyla's going through the gate. I'm not sure how seriously the Menarians would take me if I showed up in such a disheveled state."

"Oh Elizabeth, I'm sure you look just radiant. How far are you guys from getting going?"

"Teyla's waiting for me in the gate room. I'm just exiting the transporter now. When I get up there we're going to go ahead and dial and she's going through.

"Alrighty, just keep me in the loop. I'm going to finish up here and then I'll be up to join you as well."

"Hang on, one sec. I just wanted to have quick word with you regarding what went down in the control room a bit ago. I know that you were just coming off the rescue, and everyone had a lot of adrenalin going and you were on a roll organizing everyone, but from here out I will be assuming control of things. We can discuss anything that you think pertinent, but at this point the military operation aspect of this situation is over. You did a superb job taking out Kolya and the rest of his forces, but from here forward we will need a bit less of a strong hand. Everyone coming back is going to have their own concerns; Teyla has already told me that she is worried that the settlement might have taken some serious damage from the storm. I'll talk to the Athosian leaders when they return about setting out a survey team when we get the chance. Can I put you on picking some soldiers and maybe accompanying them out there?"

"Elizabeth, I think that I should still be part of the decision making process here. There are still several military matters here that I think I should be in charge of."

"John, I appreciate your forwardness, but I am going to need to smooth things over with everyone coming back. You're diplomatic skills could use a little polishing-"

"Look, we still have to figure out how the Genii found out about our evacuation and how they got an Athosian IDC to come through with the distress call that started this mess. Something with our Menaran friends smells rotten."

"Ok, I'll admit that is something for you to investigate when we get some semblance of order with the returning population. Can we talk about this later maybe? I'm back at the gate room."

"Alright. I gotta get back to Sora anyways. I'll be up in a few minutes. Oh, one more thing. Can you tell Teyla to be careful? We still don't know how the Menarans are tied up in this matter."

"Sure. I'll pass the message along."

"Ok. Sheppard out." He pushed off the wall and walked back into the brig. Sora was standing near the entrance to the cell, now dressed in the orange jump suit that fell loosely over her frame, obscuring her curves.

"See, I told you. You look fabulous." He deactivated the shield and headed over the bed where her Genii uniform was neatly folded, her boots sitting on the floor in front of the bed."

"Well, I can't say that Kolya didn't teach you guys how discipline and neatness go hand in hand." He looked at the pile of her possessions, a basic uniform with a holster and communicator lying on top.

"This is everything?"

"Yes."

"I'm gonna have to do a quick pat down to be sure. Up against the wall, hands out if you could. I'll be quick about it."

Her eyes narrowed dangerously at this. "You're a pig Sheppard, just like every other man. You think I don't recognize an attempt to satisfy your sexual impulses just because no one's around?"

Sheppard didn't respond to her dig at him; instead do a quick, professional pat down. Despite what that bastard Kolya had told her about how his troops behaved, he had no desire to take advantage of this young woman in any way.

"Ok, you're clear. It's standard protocol for everyone."

She turned to face him. "Are you quite done already? Just get out. Go clean up the bodies of my comrades that you killed. And then scurry back to Weir, I'm sure she's anxiously awaiting the return of her little guard dog."

"I get that you don't want to be here. Hell, I'd rather that you'd never shown up here. But you did, and you're here so you may as well as try to get along with us. I don't know how long you're staying, but it might make the guards a little more likely to behave courteously when they get back."

As Sheppard strolled toward the exit, on a whim he stopped for a moment and walked back to the bed and lifted the mattress. There he found one more knife. He held it up in the light, the well-oiled blade catching the light. A beautiful piece in its own right with a bone handle, ornately decorated with animal carvings, someone had taken good care of the weathered knife.

"And cooperating starts with telling the truth. If you trust us, maybe we can trust you in time; see about moving you to better quarters even."

Her face contorted, suddenly masked with anger, perhaps even a hint of anxiety as she darted forward for him. "That's MINE! You already took my father; you won't have his last possession gifted to me!"

Before she could claw at his face he slid the knife into his belt and grabbed her arm, tripping her with a foot stuck between her legs as she collapsed to the ground in a heap.

Almost sobbing she didn't go to get up, "Please…it's all I have left of him."

His tensed expression relaxed just a bit as he felt a bit of compassion for her. "Look, it's a weapon. I can't leave it with you. I'll put it with your other stuff. In time, when we decide what to do with you, I might be able to get it back. But not now, and especially not if you are going to lie and attack me on a whim."

She didn't respond, didn't look at him, just stayed there as he withdrew and reactivated the shield.

"I am sorry for your loss Sora. Losing family isn't easy; I've lost enough of my men to know that. I'll make sure it's cared for. I send someone down to check on you later with a hot meal."

With no response from her forthcoming he left the room once again. From the hallway he dropped into the locker room reserved for his troops next door and stuck her possessions in a neat pile in one of the lockers He activated the lock behind him so that no one would rifle through her possessions in his absence before heading back to the control room to rejoin the rest of his team.

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	3. A Pair of Snakes in the Grass

**Review Responses**

Adso – I'm glad I resolved the OOC Sheppard occurrence to your liking. I think you're right when you say a lot of authors tend to let Sheppard get away from them and overrule Weir too often, she is supposed to be in charge. I guess I fell into the same trap lol. I think that the times when Sheppard does disobey Weir tend to come to define him in fan's minds sometimes, for in those moments he often appears at his most heroic and people want to reproduce that in their fics. I will try to keep your advice in mind. Thanks again for your thoughts!

ElisaD263 – I'm glad you liked the Sora/Sheppard scene. Sora was empathetic to the Lanteans in some regard, she was against killing them and stuff, so I wanted to accurately portray that conflicted state she found herself in, fighting between her desire for revenge, loyalty to the Genii, and the realization that the Lanteans are people too.

Juliet164 – Oh! I feel bad for not getting back to McKay in this chapter. I do promise he is the main character in this story; I am just trying to get all the loose ends tied up from the episodes themselves before I totally dive into my plot. I want to lay a solid foundation before I delve into the main plotline. I promise I will get back to McKay as soon as I can. I hope you keep reading!

The Watch Stander – I completely agree. I love whump and feel that the show puts the hints of it in there, like the McKay torture bit, but then they write it off and don't come back and finish it, trace its effects on him, etc. But that is where we as fic writers and readers come in :) We get to fill in those gaps ourselves which I think is awesome as well to see all the different ways people interpret events and put their own spin on them.

X Varda X – I also love fics that deal with the aftereffects of the torture Rodney suffered in this pair of episodes. I read some amazing ones and they inspired me to take my own stab at it. And the Sora thing wasn't totally in my mind when I started, it's one of those developments that just seem to happen as you write. I promise we will be seeing more of her in this fic throughout :)

**Author's Notes**

Alright guys, I know I promised some whump, and that this fic focuses on Rodney McKay. And it still will. I feel like I almost have the basics set up and I am preparing to diverge from the episode into the AU plotline in the next few chapters and beyond. And for everyone who has reviewed, thank you! I love to get feedback and hear other's people's thoughts. It lets me know what areas I need to work on and such. Here's the next chapter as promised.

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**Chapter 3: A Pair of Snakes in the Grass**

"What the hell happened here?!? It looks like a hurricane ripped through my infirmary!" Beckett whirled around in a circle, taking in the drawers that had been pulled out, files scattered across the floor. A vial of medication bounced off his shoe as he walked forward, rolling forward into a mess of other vials and medical paraphernalia littering the floor.

Ford took off his hat for a moment, rubbing his short bristly hair as he thought. "Damn…I don't know doc,' I can try to find out though," he said tapping his headset.

"Sheppard, this is Ford. We're just getting down to the infirmary. This place is a wreck. Do you know what happened?"

"Oh…yeah…the Genii demanded all of our medical supplies."

Beckett had settled on a stool looking a bit pale but still wanting to see what had passed here for himself.

"Lad, can I talk to him myself for a moment?" He held his hand out expectantly.

Ford rolled his eyes for a moment, but Beckett looked already looked worse for wear and this latest development likely hadn't raised his spirits at all. He'd go along with the irritating doctor for a least a few moments.

"Sheppard, hold on a sec, Beckett wants a word," he said pulling the device out of his ear and passing it over. Beckett fumbled with it for a moment before getting it settled properly behind his own ear.

"Major, what _exactly _happened here?"

"The Genii happened. It wasn't just your infirmary. The armory was a mess when I was down there too. They ripped it apart looking for the C4 I hid."

"That's good and fine lad, but what about down here? Nothing's where I left it! I just hope everyone coming back is ok, there's no way I can treat anyone properly with my workspace like this!"

"The Genii had Elizabeth, they had a gun pointed at her and they very forcefully requested that she take them down there. I assume they took what they wanted and left."

"They _took _some of our supplies? We didn't have much to start with…What did they take?"

"Look Carson, I don't know. I was running around defending this place on my lonesome and trying to keep McKay and Elizabeth from getting a bullet through their brains! What I did learn was in small snatches over the radio and it wasn't much!"

Carson's gaze moved down to the floor and he bit the edge of his lip, perhaps he shouldn't be chewing the Major out over this. It wasn't his fault.

"Aye, I understand Major. Do you know where they took the supplies they seized?"

"It's up here in the control room; I assume they wanted it ready for when they headed back through the gate. I'll have some of my marines bring it down when we get a moment. Is that all? The first people are about to start coming through the gate."

"Aye Major. That would be well appreciated."

"Ok, Sheppard out then. I'll check in with you later."

Beckett removed the earpiece and handed it back to Ford. "Could you help me with some of this stuff lad? If I could just get the medicine back into their containers and at least an exam bed or two set up that should be enough for the moment." He stood up from his stool, bending over to pick up a few of the vials scattered at this feet.

Ford looked over at him just as he started to keel forward, darting forward and steadying him with a hand on his shoulder. "Whoa, whoa doc! You're not looking to hot there all of a sudden. Why don't you sit down for a sec?"

"But all this stuff-"

"Doc, I don't know exactly what went down but Teyla and Sora dragged you into the control room half-unconscious earlier and you've looked like shit since then."

Carson hunched over on the stool, closing his eyes and massaging his temple. "I…I think I got hit with a gun, Sora's gun when she was attacking Teyla and I? I don't remember much after that…I think I must have blacked out for a minute or two. I came back sometime when we were going to the control room…"

"She must have knocked you a good one. I don't think I've seen you this bad before. And you have one hell of a shiner starting to form. Why we don't wait for some of your staff to return? Sheppard said that they were starting to come through. They can help you get things here put back together."

"Aye, that's probably best. Lad, how are you? I never even took the time to ask you. Ach! What good am I as a doctor?"

Ford lips curved up just the slightest at this. "I'm fine doc. I think you're the one we need to worry about for now."

"Are you sure lad? There was so much gunfire up there…bullets everywhere!"

"Really, I'm the image of health. The Genii took the heavy fire from us."

"What about the others? I must admit my vision wasn't very on cue up in the control room. I was seeing three Sheppards dancing circles around the control room."

"Teyla was looking a bit beat up from a few cuts, probably from her fight with Sora, other than that Elizabeth looked wet I guess? And everyone looked tired…we've been at this for more than a day. That's a long time for anyone."

"What about Rodney? He looked a little off-kilter. Something was up with that daft man. I…tried to get him down here-"

"Now that you mention it, yeah, he wasn't looking on top of his game. He had some blood on his sleeve, looked like a laceration of some sort. And again, wet and tired like the rest of us."

Carson's expression deepened into a frown at this and he looked up at Ford, "I knew I should have made him come down here! Can you call him lieutenant? Get him to come down here so I can take a proper look at him?"

"I'm sure he's ok for now. He needs to be working with his scientists for now; you saw that storm, and the tsunami! Even with the shield, I'm sure sections of the city took a hard pounding."

"But you aren't hearing me lad! His health is so touchy! Even a little bit out of balance and he can quickly spiral into something worse…it's better to catch it early."

"Look Carson, you can't expect to be able to help him in your state. You need to be looked at yourself and I certainly wouldn't trust you with any sharp instruments. You'd just as likely poke an eye out as help anyone right now."

"But-"

"Carson, look, how 'bout I promise to make sure he comes down here later? I'll talk to his cronies, maybe Zelenka? The two of them are basically attached at the hip when there is a catastrophe going on, I'll tell him to keep an eye on him."

"I suppose that'll do. I seem to have lost my earpiece somewhere in this whole deal so I can't call up right now, but can you tell Elizabeth, John, and Teyla that I expect them to show their faces here as well when things calm down a bit? There might not have been an offworld mission, but it was certainly enough excitement to warrant a quick exam for everyone."

Ford smirked. Trust Carson, even with a concussion, to play mother hen. "Alright doc. I can do that much."

Carson tried to point at Ford, but his aim ended up being to Ford's left instead of at him. "And…and that goes for you as well laddie! Don't think you're getting out of it just 'cause you're being all nice and keepin' me company!"

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The two Genii soldiers looked down at the Marines they had knocked out, stripped of their uniforms and gear, and bound each securely to a chair in nothing but their boxers. They were just finishing up with putting on their last bits of the gear: tac vests, knife, belt, and leg holsters for their firearms.

Kolya had specifically chosen them from his strike team unit for this mission because they were the type of men who could pass under the radar. There was nothing conspicuous about the pair.

The first, Kessler, was a hair under six feet, with a lean build, each thin limb ribbed with muscle built from hours of drilling with their relentless commander. He had no tattoos, no distinguishing scars. Just about the most normal guy you could find. He had worked his way into Kolya's unit with hard work and quick thinking. Kolya had been impressed by his ability to improvise ways through even the most devilish training exercises he had devised, including one particular instance when Kolya had turned him loose in the forest with nothing but a wooden fighting rod. After Kessler's one hour head start had elapsed, Kolya had set a five-man team after him armed with tear gas, wooden staves, and a variety of other implements. He had led them on a hard chase through the forest, managing to take them into a valley with magnetic minerals in the ground and cliffs. It had rendered their tracking devices useless and he had looped back to the base to meet up with Kolya who rewarded him with a real dinner instead of the slop they got in the mess hall. After a hot shower, Kolya had finally taken pity on the rest of the unit and sent him out to retrieve his hopelessly lost comrades. For their failure they had gotten a weekend trip in the wilderness learning how to do real navigation without their fancy equipment. He'd gotten a weekend vacation to visit his family for the first time in three months.

Jaren, the other, wasn't so sharp. Completely unremarkable, brown eyes, dusty blond hair, and a stature that always seemed a little hunched over, slouching and sloppy; no matter how many times Kolya clapped him on the back of the head and told him to stand up like a man instead of hunching over like an animal. His part was never quite straight and regardless of how much time he spent working on a close shave, he always left a patch of scruffy hairs around his chin. He hadn't gotten this post by his own efforts. He was a military brat, the son of one of their generals. That blood relation was the only reason Kolya hadn't yet beat him to the bloody pulp or kicked him out. As far as Kessler was concerned, he was a disgrace. But Kolya had assigned the pair here together, and had taken Kessler aside and told him that he was in charge, but to put up with the brute. If all went well, the pair wouldn't need to execute their part of the mission, they were the back-up team. No, if all went well, Kolya would send someone to come get them and they could go back to their city and he could dump Jaren instead of having to stand his insufferable presence for another night.

Kessler finished buckling the gun holster straps around his leg. Uniform ensemble completed, he stood up and looked over at his partner. "Jaren, you're holster's on the wrong leg. Haven't you paid attention at all while we've been scouting? I know that you like to nap more than you like to watch what's going on, but go on like this and you'll blow our cover before we get a foot on the Atlantis side of the gate."

Jaren narrowed his eyes at Kessler. "And how would you know that it's not you that's got it on wrong? Huh? It only goes on that leg if you're right-handed, you should know by now that I am left-handed, so yeah, I put it on my left leg so I could draw and shoot."

Kessler rolled his eyes. "I actually paid attention when we were watching this pair of Lantean soldiers do their checks around the perimeter," he said motioning to the unconscious men. "Do you happen to know whether the man you are impersonating is right or left hand dominant?"

"Uh…No one pays that close attention! You can't expect anyone to recall anal-retentive details like that!"

"You would if you wanted to actually pass as a Lantean. They were _both _right handed, holster on the _right_ leg."

"But I won't be able to shoot like that!"

"Well, if you blow our cover before we even get to Atlantis there won't even be cause to shoot now will there. Switch it. Now."

"But-"

"Kolya put me in charge, and for good reason. Do it!"

Grumbling, Jaren began fumbling with the straps on the holster and moving it around to his right side. While he was working on that Kessler decided to finalize the details of their identities.

"Ok, I heard these guys talking to some of the Athosian villagers earlier. You're supposed to be a man named Chromes. I'm Banks. From here on out we will only refer to each other by these names for as long as we need to remain among the Lanteans. Just keep your hat on and don't speak unless someone asks you something. And even then, I will do the talking. I'd only trust you to mess this up. We look close enough to this pair that we should be able to remain undiscovered until we can get through the gate and break-off from the other troops and head into the city."

Jaren tightened the last strap, rubbing the bag of his head. He looked up at Kessler. "You sure we should be doing this? I mean, what if Kolya came through ok? He told us he'd send someone to come get us."

"He said if we hadn't heard from him by the time the Lanteans returned to the city to head back with them. If the strike team was successful, we should hear from it from the Lantean troops as they bitch about getting one-upped. Either way, we'll slip off into the city. If Kolya failed, we will try to accomplish what mission objectives we can and escape. If he was successful, we will simply sneak back through the gate when the opportunity presents itself. These soldiers have enough rations in their packs for several days, we will be fine."

"I'm just not sure…we could get stuck there! We don't know how hard it will be to get back through the gate; they have to have it manned around the clock."

"Jaren, do the smart thing for once and shut up. We're going. Grab your pack and we're going to the Lantean camp. The Athosians started packing up their belongings two hours ago and many people are assembling by the gate."

And just like that, the pair of soldiers shouldered their gear, checked the state of their uniforms one last time, and pulled their hats low over their eyes to make it harder to clearly see their identity. The two followed the trail, seeing the glow of the gate horizon first, and as they drew closer, were able to make out the people walking into it in small bunches, soldiers stationed on either side of the gate, motioning people forward in an orderly manner. They tagged onto the end of the procession, falling in with a few straggling soldiers carrying up the rear. The line moved forward, until just a few Marines and the pair of them remained. They nodded at the soldiers stationed at the gate and stepped through, the last of the Athosians travelling back to Atlantis with a pair of Genii impostors in their midst.


	4. Collapse

**Review Responses**

**X Varda X – **Thanks for the continued reviews on my story. They are always appreciated. Here is a return to the regularly schedule Rodney whump as promised :) I hope you enjoy it!

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**Chapter 4: Collapse**

**One Day Later**

Rodney rubbed at his eyes as he was walking down to the main engineering labs, trying to wipe away the exhaustion, maybe even the rings under his eyes. It had been a full twenty-four hours since the rest of the population had returned from Menara. The rest of the day yesterday had been spent organizing all of the engineers into groups to work on the different systems repairs and issues that they expected to cropped up in the wake of the hurricane.

While most of the other support teams had helped with moving the Lantean population back in, they had been mostly done after that. Even Sheppard had sent his troops back to their quarters for a mandatory eight hours of sleep. The job of his team of engineers was just beginning and would drag through the next several days. So often people seemed to forget that while the military was out front protecting the people during times of conflict or emergency, while the medical staff assisted with injuries, so often his own team were the unsung heroes of Atlantis. Working through long nights under impossible deadlines on systems created by a people hundreds of years ahead of them in terms of technology, it was their job to decipher this technology, repair problems the moment they cropped up. Yes, while everyone was sleeping in their beds, he had snagged three hours of sleep and at five in the morning had groggily rolled out of bed, grabbed a power bar for breakfast, and was gulped two cups of caffeine to encourage his abused body to keep going. Yes, they were just beginning the looming task of running diagnostics on the city to determine the extent of the damage, the first task that they must accomplish before they began repairs.

"Dr. McKay! Wait up!"

Rodney threw a glance over his shoulder, slowing his pace to a crawl as Zelenka awkwardly jogged after him, arriving thoroughly out of breath. Being in shape wasn't a common quality of any of his associates, a number of which who spent their entire day looking at a computer screen or sitting at a desk. No, that quality was much more prevalent in the Marine population, out on the daily runs and other exercise regimens that Sheppard scheduled for all of his soldiers.

"Dr. McKay…I…I was wondering where you wanted me today."

"Take it easy Zelenka; catch your breath before you choke on it. Hmm…I didn't assign you to a team yesterday. Is there any project in particular that you had in mind to work on?

"Well actually, there was one; I was hoping to join the team that will be running diagnostics on our jumpers that evacuated people from the mainland just to ensure everything was in order before they are utilized for another mission. I've gotten the Ancient's programming for them pretty well-"

McKay wasn't even looking at Zelenka as they stood there in the hall, instead staring down into the vacant hallway over Zelenka's shoulder, off in his own world. "I think I'll take you with me. I'm going to go down the East pier first."

Zelenka shook his head muttering under his breath, "Why do I even bother answering rhetorical questions?"

"What was that Zelenka?"

"Nothing sir, I was just wondering what we will be working on down there."

"Well, thanks to my brilliant plan of disengaging the grounding stations so that we could utilize the energy to power the shield, we did save the city-"

Zelenka rolled his eyes, "Yes, I know how _our _plan worked so well. But what does that have to do with today?"

"Let's walk and talk. We both need to get down to the lab. Where was I? Oh, yeah. Well, I got the grounding systems to disengage ok, and two of the three reactivated remotely when I ran the program from the control room right after the tsunami hit and the worst of the storm was over. Unfortunately, that last one, the one that took damage from the Genii's loose trigger fingers and poor aim, we have to go down and reengage that one on site."

"You mean not all of the grounding stations reactivated? As in if we get any lightning it will be routed through the hallways still, and quite likely kill anyone unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity?!?"

"Oh relax! Do you know what the chances are of a thunderstorm following so soon after a hurricane? Astronomically small!"

"You're operating on assumptions based on weather planets from earth! This is a different planet! Does Elizabeth know about this? I find it hard to believe that she would allow the return of all personnel if she knew about this-"

"No, Mr. Whistle Blower, she doesn't know. And she _won't _find out, now will she?"

"But it's reckless, if anyone she should know!"

"Look, that's why I am working on that repair first. She'll never know. And if she does, for some reason, find out from an anonymous source, I will assume that it was you since you are the only one I am telling about this. I will have to assume the information came through you and you'll be monitoring the waste systems for any anomalies for the next two weeks! Got it?"

"…Yes, Dr. McKay. What time will we be departing for the East Pier?"

"As soon as we get done at the lab."

Zelenka dropped his eyes down to the tablet he was carrying for a moment, catching a flash of red near the ground out of the corner of his eye, his attention drifting to McKay's feet.

"What's with the red rubber boots? I thought we were repairing the reengaging the grounding rods, not going fishing…"

McKay scowled at this, "I'm glad you're completely focused on the work at hand. For your information, a few of the halls we have to travel through to get out there have a foot of water in them. Giant waves do tend to do that sometimes."

Zelenka frowned a bit at this, looking down at his own tennis shoes, "Oh…Do we have time to stop by the supply station so I can retrieve a pair?"

"Sorry Zelenka, should've come prepared."

"But I didn't know that we were going down into the flooded region of the city-"

"Oh, cut the excuses! You yourself are the one that pointed out the risk, however small it may be, that we might get some more lightening. We don't really want a human barbeque bonanza in the hallways. It's important that we get this fixed as quickly as possible."

"But you said that wouldn't happen!"

"Zelenka! Calm down, we just had this conversation. It's not going to happen…Although it doesn't hurt that rubber is an excellent insulator against electrical shock in the case of lightening..." he smiled as he looked down at his brilliantly colored boots. Zelenka's eyes got wide at this and he opened his mouth for a rebuttal, but was prevented from getting a word in as the pair strolled into the labs and chaos descended as a swarm of scientists headed in their direction.

"Dr. McKay, we've found some anomalies with the reactivated generators. The generator connected to

the control room is only operating at seventy-three percent normal power output, we need-"

Another scientist pushed in front of the one speaking, jumping in with his own concerns, "Hold on, I just need him for a second. This can't wait. I thought that I was in charge of draining the east pier from flooding, but Dr. Gomez just came out here yelling that he was in charge and to stop messing with his protocols-"

Another pushed a tablet in front of him, pointing emphatically, "Here, can you just look at these calculations real quick-"

McKay closed his eyes for a moment. Deep breath, he'd survived a natural disaster today, he could do this. "OK! Everyone, just pause for a moment!"

He pushed the tablet out of his face. The bunch in front of him backed up a step and closed their mouths. In the rest of the lab the swarm of scientists froze, some mid-stride, to turn and look toward him.

"Look, let's do a quick recap of what we've found so far. Can everyone tell me what's going on?"

The room erupted into a cacophony of voices, all competing for his attention.

"Come on guys. We've been here awhile now. One at a time! I know I'm good at multi-tasking, but this is just ridiculous. Let's start with updates on the primary systems."

"Jones, you were saying something about power output for the Nasqueda generator powering the control room. Ok, slowly now, with breaths between sentences, explain to me what you've found…"

Zelenka stood off to the side, working on his own data pad as McKay quickly gave directions to the heads of all of his teams. Two hours later had found them out at the malfunctioning grounding station, McKay estimating that they were halfway through the necessary repairs. He was hunched down in front of the control panel with the cover popped off exposing a myriad of wires and data crystals. Zelenka had his data pad connected to the system and was reading off various data values to McKay as he decided which wires to prod, disconnect and reconnect in order to reconnect the grounding rods.

McKay missed a wire for the third time due to the faint tremor that had crept its way down to his hand and declared it time for a five minute break. He set down his pliers and stood up, cracking his back as he did so.

"I sometimes wish we had thought to bring a chiropractor through the gate when we came. I never expected to spend this much time contorting my body to fix these systems."

"I must admit that I do not enjoy that part of the job."

McKay ran a hand through his already disheveled hair and sighed. God, he was tired. He'd also started feeling terribly nauseous about thirty minutes ago and it hadn't improved at all. Add to this that he was also really hot for some reason and all he wanted to do was go back to his room, curl up, and sleep.

"You hot at all Zelenka? I'm roasting," he exclaimed wiping the back of his hand across his forehead, pulling it away moist with a thin layer of sweat.

Zelenka put down his data pad on top of the control panel, going to zip up his jacket a bit higher. "I'm actually rather chilly. That breeze from the ocean is cold."

"Oh…"

"You could take off your jacket. You are wearing a short-sleeved shirt, are you not?"

He was. But he also had that cut on his arm. If Zelenka had asked about his boots he would certainly inquire about the bandage wrapped around his arm that was undoubtedly spotted with fresh blood. The wound still wasn't closing properly.

"Do you want me to get sick Zelenka? Looking to run the labs for awhile and show Elizabeth that you could do just as well as me? Well forget your fantasies; I've just been working hard probably. The last thing I need is to catch a chill and get sick. Besides, you could never run the lab as efficiently as I could," he crossed his arms and stared at his co-worker.

"I wasn't suggesting anything of the sort."

"Good. Let's get back to work," he went down to kneel when all of a sudden his nausea spiked viciously. He rapidly pushed off the ground and stood up, rushing to the railing before throwing up into the ocean below.

"Rodney!" Zelenka went over to help, but Rodney put up a hand, motioning Zelenka to leave him alone.

Zelenka stilled his gait, watching with a concerned expression as his boss finished retching.

"God…"

"Are you ok Rodney?"

"Just give me a minute." He didn't move from where he was at, hands tightly gripping the railing as he remained bent over it, closing his eyes with the expectation that watching the churning waves below wouldn't help his nausea in any way.

"Ok…I'm ok," Rodney went to stand up only to start to tilt sideways. Add vertigo to the list. This time Zelenka disregarded Rodney's plea to leave him alone, stepping in and grabbing his arm to try to steady him.

"DAMN IT! LET GO, NOW!" Startled, Zelenka withdrew, hands up in the air, a thoroughly confused and concerned expression upon face.

Rodney sunk down the ground, leaning up against the panel, cradling the injured arm that Zelenka had just grabbed. Fuck, fuck, it hurt. He took strangled breaths trying to regain his composure, not paying Zelenka any attention. At that moment, all that existed was the fire torturing the nerves in his arm. After a minute or two he reopened his eyes and looked up at Zelenka.

"Rodney, what is wrong?"

"I think I need food. Hypoglycemia and all…I haven't gotten down to the mess much." He left out the bit about not sleeping, about having living off coffee and powerbars since the storm began three days ago. Christ, it had only been three days, it felt like an eternity.

"Rodney, your arm is bleeding."

Rodney looked down at his arm, seeing that a spot of blood had appeared on the sleeve of this coat. Another jacket ruined then. He would have to see about getting another. He couldn't really deny that injury, Zelenka had seen his violent reaction and now the blood. "Yeah, that happened while you guys were offworld. It was a bit of a rough time with the Genii and all."

Zelenka looked down at his boss whose condition did not seem to have improved at all as he sat there. He tapped his ear piece. "Dr. Beckett. This is Zelenka. Are you there?"

All he got in response was static.

Rodney propped himself up on his good elbow at this, staring daggers at Zelenka. "I am in charge here and I didn't ask you to radio the infirmary! We need to finish this repair."

Zelenka sighed. "Doesn't matter, I can't get anyone on the radio. Mine's not working."

Rodney softened his tone a bit. "Probably the storm. We obviously got a lot of lightening here with a lot of lightning rods around each station, this one included. I could see that messing up communications. Remind me to report that to the team working on communications systems diagnostics."

"I will tell them as soon as we go back. Why don't you remain there and I will pack up our gear?"

"We'll do that once we finish. We're close to being done."

"I think we should go back, Rodney. You are in no condition to continue repairs."

"But this is a critical repair-"

For once Zelenka didn't let his boss finish and actually cut him off. "Rodney, we need to head back. Once I get you to the infirmary I can come back and work on the repair."

"But you don't know where I was in the sequence! We can finish it and then go back." He didn't want to go back. He knew Zelenka would radio Beckett and that, even if he could skirt the persistent doctor for a little bit, eventually he would be tracked down and dragged in.

Zelenka disconnected their diagnostic equipment from the panel and gathered it into his backpack.

"Hey, that's my data pad!"

Zelenka rolled his eyes and stuck it in his bag, zipping it up and throwing it over his shoulder. "I'm carrying it. We're going to have enough trouble getting you back in your state without me needing to worry about you keeling over due to a little extra weight."

He lowered a hand to Rodney. "Let's go."

Rodney sighed. He probably should go back now; they would be in trouble if he got any worse. He could probably sneak off to his quarters instead of the infirmary and see what he could do for his arm. A few hours of sleep and a real meal should fix the rest of his problems. He grabbed Zelenka's hand and pulled himself to his feet, wobbling for a moment or two before Zelenka steadied him and the two began the trip back from the station.

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	5. Contact Reestablished

**Review Responses**

**ElisaD263 – **I too love scenes where Beckett is playing the mother hen. Most of my favorite fan-fic interactions are between Beckett and McKay :) Our two Genii friends will resurface in the next chapter or two.

**Deblease – **Thanks for the repeated reviews! It is always exciting to hear that others are enjoying my fics. And here is the next chapter as requested lol.

**X Varda X **– I love him when he's like this too lol! Glad you're enjoying it. On another totally random note, I was thrilled to see that you updated "Puddle Jumper Mayhem," it's one of my favorite SGA fics. I'll read it and tell you what I think for sure in the next day or so.

**Juliet164** – Here is the next chapter, of course more Rodney whump! I hope you enjoy it!

**Author's Note**

This chapter is a bit different. We return to Rodney and Zelenka, run through a series of events, and then back-up to recap what Carson has been up to since the storm. We then go through the same scene that we first covered, this time from Carson's perspective. I think that is one thing that sometimes gets left out, Carson's side of the story where he is worrying about the team while they are out, and the calm before the storm when they are coming in and he knows they will need his help. So please bear with me, it's my first time covering the same scene from two perspectives, I tried to keep it interesting even with a lot of same dialogue. This chapter is also longer as a result of this format, about 4k words instead of 2k. Feel free to tell me what you think, if it worked, if it didn't. I'm always up to other people's thoughts. And again, thanks again to all my repeated readers, and especially my reviewers, it's always a pleasure to hear that people are enjoying this fic as much as I enjoy other writers' fics.

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**Chapter 5: Contact Reestablished**

"We need to stop for a minute." Rodney pulled away from Zelenka a bit.

"Can't you make it a bit further? We're almost to the transporter." He pulled Rodney's arm a little further over his neck to help the ailing man stand up better.

"Zelenka, we need to stop now! I'm going to be sick-" He cut off mid-sentence, pushing Zelenka away weakly. Zelenka relented and obliged Rodney's urgent request, stepping back as Rodney dropped to his knees with a thud and retched for the third time since they had begun the trip back.

He watched Rodney spit bile out of his mouth, having lost most of his meager stomach contents a few stops ago. He sighed, not used to seeing his boss in such a vulnerable state. He supposed he sometimes thought of Rodney as inhuman and this was one of the few times that façade dropped. Rodney's intelligence and ability to pull ideas out of thin air certainly seemed mystical enough at times.

Rodney had stopped and had lowered himself to lying on the ground, clutching his stomach. He didn't want to push his obviously hurting friend, but at the same time he needed to get Rodney back. If anything his condition had deteriorated further as they made their way back.

"Done?"

"Uh…god. For now, I think."

"Think we can get you back on your feet?"

"Can't make any promises."

"We can try, yes?"

"I suppose you aren't going to carry me back, so may as well."

Zelenka crouched down next to him, throwing Rodney's good arm around his neck, and wrapped his other hand around Rodney's waist, pulling them both to a standing position as he propelled himself to his feet with a grunt. Rodney wasn't the most petite of the engineers. Rodney flinched all of a sudden as his radio chirped loudly enough for Zelenka to hear.

A Scottish voice drifted from the earpiece. "_Rodney. It's Carson. Again. I don't know if you think this ignoring me routine is cute, lad, but I assure you it ain't. Now you best be answering your radio this time or I am sending a set of Marines after you."_

Rodney turned to Zelenka, "Guess we're back in radio range. The damage must not have extended this far."

"_Rodney! Is that you lad? I've been trying you goin' on an hour. It'd please me greatly to know just where you've gotten off to," there was no mistaking the barely-veiled anger lacing Carson's words, "You were supposed to report down to the infirmary for a check-over."_

"I've been working on repairs since the storm-"

"_Ach! I don't want to hear that you didn't have time! Both Elizabeth and the Major have made time to stop by and they are just as busy as you! And then you've been ignoring my calls!"_

"Zelenka and I were out at the East Pier working on the grounding station, communications are down in that region."

"_Well you get your butt down here, now! My patience with your little avoidance routine ran out long ago. You try this game any longer and I'll make sure that your next exam is not a pleasant one!"_

Rodney was starting to sag a bit, even with Zelenka's help. "I'm fine Carson. I was going back to my room to get some of that sleep you keep prescribing."

Zelenka's eyes narrowed at this and his lips curved into a frustrated frown. He reached up with his hand that has been supporting Rodney's waist, plucking the radio out of his companion's ear and fitting it over his own ear.

"_Rodney, lies are not becoming. I know ye've cut yer' arm at the very least and you'll be comin' down here on 'yer own or with a military escort."_

"Hey! That's mine! Give it back, I wasn't done!" Rodney tried to reach up and reclaim his property, Zelenka spinning in a circle to prevent just that. They made an odd pair; to an onlooker it would have appeared as a bizarre, clumsy dance.

"Rodney, stop it!" Zelenka swatted at his hand, "Dr. Beckett, this is Zelenka. I am with Rodney. We are on our way back to the occupied portion of the city now. Rodney is _not _ok."

"_Ach, o' course. What has he done to himself now?"_

"His arm's bleeding, and obviously hurting him-"

Rodney cut in, feeling he had been ignored long enough; it was time to reign this back in. "Zelenka! I swear, keep it up! You'll be on waste systems the moment we get back!"

"_Rodney, I can hear yer' squawking, lad. Ye may as well stop your arguing, you'll not be harassing Zelenka. Zelenka, is there anything else?"_

"You were talking about an escort, that wouldn't be such a bad idea. He's pretty bad off right now. He's had some vertigo, puked a few times. It's been slow coming back."

"_Rodney, ye can never have a simple case, now can you? I'll have a medical team sent out in your direction in the next few minutes. Where exactly are you?"_

"Assuming we continue at the same snail crawl we've managed thus far, we'll be to the transporter in about ten minutes or so. That can take us to section E6, can you're team meet us there?"

"_You engineers and your numbers. I don't have your complicated coordinate system memorized. In terms I can grasp, son, where will that drop you?"_

"It's a hallway near the generator room under the control room. Get a military team, Sheppard probably will want to come, tell them E6. They'll get you there."

"_Alright, can you put McKay on for a moment?"_

Zelenka passed the radio back to Rodney. Rodney sighed deeply. He knew a proper reaming from the good doctor was coming.

"Rodney here."

The tone was much more subdued than he had expected, "_Lad, I need details. What's wrong?"_

"It's really not that bad. Zelenka's exaggerating-"

"_Rodney, stop with the bickering. Now start with your symptoms or I'm grounding you until I feel you've learned your lesson."_

Rodney let his defensive stance drop a bit, hunched shoulders betraying his exhaustion. "A little hypoglycemia maybe. I haven't gotten down to the mess much."

"_Hang on lad; I'm going to get a team organized. You stay on this channel. I'll be back in a moment." _

The line went silent as Rodney addressed Zelenka, "He's gonna be back in a minute. Maybe we can get moving?"

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Carson was sitting at his desk reviewing a list of patients that had come into the infirmary since the rest of the population had returned. He shook his head a bit as he saw his own name on the list. His staff had insisted, running a quick diagnostic on the Ancient scanner before declaring that he had a mild concussion and would be relieved of duty for the rest of the evening. He had wanted to stay and help, but arguing with the likes of belligerent patients, chiefly among them Sheppard and McKay, had taught his staff well and they easily won the argument. He had left the infirmary with orders to sleep and permission to return to work in the morning. A pair of ibuprofen had made a world of a difference in his headache, reducing it to a dull ache. He left his radio on incase there was an emergency, some responsibilities as the chief medical officer were just impossible to shake, and drifted off to sleep quickly after an exhausting day, knowing that his infirmary was in the hands of his more-than-capable staff.

He had woken the next morning, slipped into his white jacket, and dropped his stethoscope into one of his oversized lab coat pockets. He donned his radio in as he exited the room, put in a quick trip to the mess, and made his way into the infirmary.

He peeked in at the infirmary's only current occupant, a Marine, on his way to his office. He couldn't help but smirk at the slumbering man; they looked so much less intimidating with a bit of drool hanging on the edge of an open jaw, totally unconscious. He spotted the back of Jenna, the night nurse whose shift was about to end. She was in the supply room. Instead of disturbing her he slipped into his office, anxious to review the data that he knew was loaded on his data pad on his desk detailing exactly what had passed in his absence.

A quick survey on his way in found that order had been restored, with no evidence of the havoc that the Genii had wrought. The evacuation to Menara and return afterwards had gone without any major hitches. One soldier had obtained the cliché injury of stepping into a hole and twisting his ankle while on patrol; and one of the Athosian settlers that they had brought back from the mainland during the storm had gotten a mild case of hypothermia from being out in the rain for so long. These two had been the only admits to the infirmary, and the Athosian had already been discharged. The soldier with the twisted ankle had received a brace and was scheduled to be released this morning after they cut back on his pain meds.

After flipping through the Marine's chart, he started scanning the list of all the people that had filtered through the infirmary for small ailments, cuts and bruises and the likes. A few names jumped out at him, his own name was up toward the top of the list thanks to that unfortunate collision with Sora's gun. Elizabeth, Ford, and Sheppard had all checked out ok. The last thing that struck him was the odd absence of one Rodney McKay. The man was notorious for clamoring for attention over the simplest of ailments; he had been positive that he would have come through.

He wracked his brain for any reason why Rodney wouldn't have stopped by. Of course the man could get tied up in his work, but he usually good about post-mission checks. It was about eight-thirty. Pretty much all of the senior staff would be awake by now, organizing their people. Rodney would have gotten up at the crack of dawn to start organizing his scientists. He could never sit around when there was an Ancient system that needed tinkering. He tapped his headset, "Rodney, this is Beckett. I want you to come down to the infirmary for your post-mission exam."

He leaned back in his chair, rolling a pen through his fingers as he contemplated what he wanted to do. A sudden thought occurred to him, the events between his spell of unconsciousness and him going to bed was a little fuzzy in places, but he did distinctly remember the conversation he had had with Ford, what had he said? Something about McKay having a laceration on his arm, and now that he thought about it, Rodney hadn't looked too well in the control room yesterday. Well, if anyone knew where the scientist was it would be Sheppard.

He tapped his headset again, "Sheppard, it's Beckett. You there lad?"

"_Dr. Beckett, this is Bates. I'm assigned to communications today. Sheppard is currently offworld. I'm taking his radio calls until he returns."_

"A mission this soon after the storm?"

"_Yeah, pretty rough. I know, he's been busy. He's missing two of his men that didn't return from Menara. He took a team back to the planet to find them."_

"I swear that man's job never ends. Well maybe you can help me. I'm trying to find McKay. He failed to report to the infirmary for his physical."

"_Can you give me ten minutes? I'll radio around; see if I can find anything."_

"You sure you have the time lad? If yer' busy I can take care of it."

"_It's pretty quiet. Not many military operations going on right now. The engineers are running around like their possessed, but most of our work was during the evacuation. We just have the one team offworld. The distraction would be welcomed actually, sir. It's pretty boring up here in the control room."_

"Alright, I appreciate it. Get back to me if you find anything."

Carson went back to his paperwork. There were a few tests that had come back from the lab from routine physicals and he began inputting the results in his patients' charts. A few of the other doctors insisted on passing that task off to the nurses, but he liked to be hands-on with all parts of the process, paperwork included. Or computer data entry. There hadn't been much paper since coming to Atlantis, all electronic now. How much things had changed in the short time they had been here. Granted, he was practicing medicine in another galaxy, but the new developments, the technology and new protocols always amazed him in how different they made things. He was pulled from his thoughts as his radio chirped.

"_Beckett, it's Bates. I put in a call to the engineering labs. Apparently he was in earlier, but he took Zelenka and headed out to the East Pier to do some repairs"_

"Any insight as to why he wouldn't be answerin' his radio?"

"_Not really sir. Knowing McKay, he's wrapped up in his work and turned it off."_

"Alright, I suppose I'll keep tryin' him periodically, the daft man's gotta answer his radio eventually, if only to radio his lab to check in."

"_That's about what I was going to suggest. If he hasn't answered in an hour radio us back, I can spare a few men; send them out there to check on them just to play it safe."_

"Aye, I'll do that. Thanks again."

"_It's all part of our complimentary customer service," _he said with a hint of humor_, "Bates out."_

In the next hour spent much of his time caring for his one admitted patient: weaning him off the painkillers, making sure he could get around well enough on a pair of crutches, taking one more scan to make sure nothing was broken, and discharging him for two weeks of off duty status. 

He snuck back into his office to try McKay for a fourth time with little expectation that he would get through, he was prepared to call Bates back and take him up on his offer to send out a team to check on him.

"Rodney. It's Carson. Again. I don't know if you think this ignoring me routine is cute, lad, but I assure you it ain't. Now you best be answering your radio this time or I am sending a set of Marines after you."

"_Guess we're back in radio range. The damage must not have extended this far."_

Carson hopped to his feet, surprised to hear a voice on the other end he quickly rambled out a response, "Rodney! Is that you lad? I've been trying you goin' on an hour. It'd please me greatly to know just where you've gotten off to. You were supposed to report down to the infirmary for a check-over."

"_I've been working on repairs since the storm-"_

He ran a hand through his hair. Of course, work. Wasn't it always with Rodney? "Ach! I don't want to hear that you didn't have time! Both Elizabeth and the Major have made time to stop by and they are just as busy as you! And then you've been ignoring my calls!"

"_Zelenka and I were out at the East Pier working on the grounding station, communications are down in that region."_

"Well you get your butt down here, now! My patience with your bloody avoidance routine ran out long ago. You try this game any longer and I'll make sure that your next exam is not a pleasant one!"

"_I'm fine Carson. I was going back to my room to get some of that sleep you keep prescribing."_

Fine indeed. Carson wasn't sure what was going on here, but Rodney's words lacked the usual punch they carried, the forceful assertion that he was right. But he was going to get to the bottom of this, Rodney had been acting strangely long enough. "Rodney, lies are not becoming. I know ye've cut yer' arm at the very least and you'll be comin' down here on 'yer own or with a military escort."

"_Hey! That's mine! Give it back, I wasn't done_!"

His tense muscles relaxed a bit at this. He wondered what the unfortunate Zelenka had done to peeve Rodney this time. He couldn't help but admire the Czech's endless patience; he himself had been ready to shake Rodney more times than he could count in his brief, but all too frequent, stays in the infirmary. He couldn't imagine dealing with Rodney's snarky attitude and arrogance every day.

"_Rodney, stop it! Dr. Beckett, this is Zelenka. I am with Rodney. We are on our way back to the occupied portion of the city now. Rodney is not ok."_

Anxiety immediately flooded through Carson's mind. Horrible scenarios started racing through his head, imagining all the possible snafus Rodney could have worked himself in. How injured was his major concern, but he took a second to take a breath. He couldn't sound panicked. Not when talking to his patients. If he was panicked, it drove them to frenzy. It was hard to do, especially when it was his friends in trouble, but he leveled his voice and responded, "Ach, o' course he has. We are talkin'about Rodney here. What has he done to himself now?"

"_His arm's bleeding, and obviously hurting him-"_

Ford had hinted at it, now he had a confirmation. He crossed his office in a few brisk strides, snatching his emergency kit from under his desk as he headed out to the supply closet to obtain any other items he thought he might need just as he heard Rodney arguing, the ever belligerent man.

"_Zelenka! I swear, keep it up! You'll be on waste systems the moment we get back!"_

"Rodney, I can hear yer' squawking, lad. Ye may as well stop your arguing, you'll not be harassing Zelenka. Zelenka, is there anything else?"

"_You were talking about an escort, that wouldn't be such a bad idea. He's pretty bad off right now. He's had some vertigo, puked a few times. It's been slow coming back_."

Ok, that was more serious. A cut in his arm shouldn't be causing those kinds of symptoms unless something else was going on. He began mentally cataloguing anything else he might need. An IV for sure, blood pressure cuff, which was probably the most he could do on site. They'd get Rodney back here quickly where he could begin a more thorough exam.

"Rodney, ye can never have a simple case, now can you? I'll have a medical team sent out in your direction in the next few minutes. Where exactly are you?"

"_Assuming we continue at the same snail crawl we've managed thus far, we'll be to the transporter in about ten minutes or so. That can take us to section E6, can you're team meet us there?"_

He growled to himself. Their obsession with precise terminology irked him to no end. They couldn't give a simple, straight term. He supposed that was what one got for the engineers spending so much time exclusively in one another's presence; they almost seemed to form their own dialect. "You engineers and your numbers! I don't have your complicated coordinate system memorized. In terms I can grasp, son, where will that drop you?"

"_It's a hallway near the generator room under the control room. Get a military team, Sheppard probably will want to come, tell them E6. They'll get you there."_

"Alright, can you put McKay on for a moment?"

"_Rodney here." _Beckett shook his head; the voice was far too quiet, worn out, for his taste.

"Lad, I need details. What's wrong?"

"_It's really not that bad. Zelenka's exaggerating-"_

The bugger! Always argumentative, he could never let another person take over. "Rodney, stop with the bickering. Now start with your symptoms or I'm grounding you until I feel you've learned your lesson."

"_A little hypoglycemia maybe. I haven't gotten down to the mess much."_

"Hang on lad; I'm going to get a team organized. You stay on this channel. I'll be back in a moment."

Carson switched over to another channel and radioed up to the control room, "Bates, Beckett again. I've gotten a hold of Rodney."

"_Glad to hear it. What was the issue with communications?"_

"From what I gathered, their radios weren't working out there, I'm not sure why."

"_Anything else I can do you for?"_

"Actually, yes. Rodney's not feeling too well. Nothing life threatening, but I'm gonna take a team out to meet them at the transporter right near yer' location. Think I might be able to borrow a pair of soldiers from ye' in case I run into any difficulties?"

"_Are you expecting trouble?"_

"Oh, no, no, lad. Nothing of the sort. I could just use an extra set of hands or two."

"_Sure thing. You want to meet them up here at the control room?"_

"That would be wonderful. I'm gonna let you go now. I need to get a few more supplies and I'll be up."

He clicked his radio off for a moment. He turned to one of his nurses on duty, picking this particular one because she had infinite patience and thick skin, enough to survive the Rodney's complaints.

"Jenna, luv,' could ye' help me with a patient retrieval?"

"Of course doctor. Do you want me to call a medic or two a well?"

"No, it'll just be the two of us and a pair of Marines. Rodney's not feeling too well but it's not an emergency. Could you get me two IV bags? One regular saline, the other sucrose enriched, I think his sugar's a bit low from the sound of it. And a gurney and an auxiliary oxygen tank? He's a wee bit wobbly at the moment."

She nodded, quickly grabbing the requested items. Beckett shouldered his engorged medical pack and the pair headed off to the control room.

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	6. Erratic Behavior

**Review Responses**

**X Varda X – **Thanks again for your continued responses, they are definitely appreciated! It's interesting to me how a story can take a different route than you intended for it. The Zelenka thing was one of those cases lol. I didn't plan for it, it just kind of happened naturally as the story progresses. I'm glad you like it though :) I do love the friendship those two have and it's fun to get to write it.

**ElisaD263** – You too, thanks for continuing to review each chapter! I love hearing what people think. And yeah lol, I always think of Carson as the one who sorts out Rodney's bickering. He is so special for being able to have the infinite patience it takes to handle Rodney's constant complaints and I did try to work it into this chapter, hope you like it!

**J – **Thanks for your input. Again, I am just starting the series, so I apologize if I write the characters a little OOC. I really appreciate it when people more experienced with the fandom chime in and help me with the smaller details. I tried to rein Carson in a bit here and let him be a little not so overbearing. Feel free to tell me if it feels better/worse than the previous chapter, either way, I hope you keep reading!

**Deblease – **Thanks for the compliment, and I will keep trying to keep with the frequent updates. I find that I stay more excited about a fic when I am writing it when it's fresh in my mind. I hope you keep with it and find the rest enjoyable.

**The Watch Stander – **In other fics I have written dialogue always seemed to be the one thing that I didn't include enough of, and it's something I've really been trying to work on in this story. I still think there are writers out there that write the dialogue a lot better than me, but I'm glad you think it's pretty on target. Oddly enough, I find Beckett's accent one of the hardest bits to write lol. I keep going back and listening to him talk in scenes from the show to try to get it down. I hope you enjoy this latest installment!

**Juliet164 – **I'm glad you thought the POV thing worked ok. It's a device I've seen used in other fics and I thought it was a neat thing to try. Here is the next update as promised, hope you like it!

**Crusoe89 – **I do love to get inside Carson's head a bit and it's been fun to write. I don't feel like we get to see his thoughts quite enough in the show, so it's been interesting to get to write that myself. I hope you like this chapter.

**0o0-The-Melodious-Nocturne-0o0 – **Aww, don't feel bad for not reviewing previously! It's always nice to hear from readers, but it's always optional lol. I write because it's fun :) I was really drawn to writing on this pair of episodes because Rodney got so much grief and whumping (getting tortured, punched in the face, getting held over the railing) and on top of that he obviously had to be exhausted after this. I wanted to do him justice and show that even if on the surface he looks fine, he's gotta be feeling it somewhere in there. I hope you keep reading and enjoy the rest of the story!

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**Chapter 6: Erratic Behavior**

Radek and Rodney had reached the transporter and used it to move them closer to the control room. Currently Rodney was sitting on the ground leaning up against the wall. Zelenka was standing and pacing back and forth, every few seconds alternating between watching to see that Rodney was ok and throwing a glance over toward the hallway that the medical team should approach from.

"Zelenka, stop pacing. The floors are steel so I'm not worried about you wearing a hole in the floor, but I'm getting tired just watching you."

Zelenka stopped his nervous pacing and looked down at his companion, "You're getting tired has nothing to do with my pacing. You're at fault for that, not sleeping, not eating, generally neglecting yourself. What were you thinking Rodney?"

"Whoa, whoa! What's with the sudden change of heart? A few minutes ago you were playing nurse, now all of a sudden you're yelling at me? Let's backup five steps here and you can go back to being nice again. That was preferable to this."

"Five minutes ago I was worried you were going to go unconscious on me! Now that I have you situated right and proper I am prepared to ream you a new one for this! I cannot be watching after you all the time! I already bring you meals when you feel the need to skip to work on an urgent project among other things!"

Rodney broke his gaze away from Zelenka's, "I never asked you to do any of that stuff. I can take care of myself just fine. If it's such an inconvenience then don't do it."

Zelenka's hard stare softened a bit, "Rodney, you, here like this, it's scary. You need me to calibrate a jumper or double check your equations, or hell, even get you another cup of hot coffee, I can do that. But you're here puking, can't even stand. I can't fix that! That's Beckett's area!"

"Aye, it would be," the pair of scientists' conversation was interrupted as Beckett, a nurse, and a pair of Marines strolled into the corridor. The Marines stopped about fifteen feet back, knowing Beckett didn't like to be crowded. It usually only took one good reprimand from the physician for any of the new troops to get that bit down. They were perfectly content to stand back and let the medical team do their work if it meant avoiding the Scottish man's rare but brilliant spurts of anger that erupted when he felt someone was getting between him and helping a patient.

The nurse rolled the gurney up next to Rodney, Zelenka also moving back to stand at Beckett's shoulder as he bent down to get a look at his patient, "Now let's see what ye've done to yerself this time Rodney, shall we?"

Carson put his kit on the ground, reaching for Rodney's pulse first as he took in the physical appearance of the man. His eyes were a bit glazed, not quite as sharp as normal, his clothes were damp with sweat, and a blood spotted bandage was wrapped around his arm. Pulse was a little too rapid for his liking

"I take it this is the laceration I keep hearing about," he asked, nodding down at the limb Rodney had protectively clutched to his chest. "Let's see it then."

Rodney moved it away as Carson went to grab it. "It's fine. I already cleaned it out and bandaged it."

Beckett frowned a bit at this. What was Rodney's issue today? Normally he was one to exaggerate pain, complain if he didn't get the attention he felt he deserved, now all of a sudden he was pulling the bravery card? "Aye, of course ye have. As a totally qualified physician I am sure that you are capable of making that determination."

He reached down for it again, this time moving more rapidly than the sluggish McKay could react. He made sure to grab the hand and not the arm, recalling that Zelenka had said he was very pain sensitive in the area. Rodney didn't try to shake him off this time; he just sighed and let his head dip back against the wall, realizing it was futile to try to hold the Scottish physician at bay.

Beckett slowly unwrapped the wound; McKay wincing a bit reflexively as he pulled the last layer off, the dried blood had made the bandage stick to the wound. Beckett's brow furrowed as he conducted his preliminary exam of the wound. It was approximately three inches long, and from the looks of it, went down through the muscle.

"Rodney, you should have come down with this the moment ye got it. This needs stitches."

"Well excuse me! You were on the mainland if I recall, and I was being held captive by the Genii, and oh, yeah! There was also the bit about me having to single-handedly save the city from a hurricane accompanied by a giant tsunami. So forgive me if I didn't come running to the infirmary the moment it happened, I was a little indisposed at the moment!"

Rodney tried to pull his arm away from Beckett's prodding, but the doctor tightened his grip. "Now stop it Rodney, I'm not done lookin' at this!" Beckett wasn't used to Rodney being this defensive, but he'd work his way to the bottom of it when he found himself without an audience. Perhaps Rodney would be a bit more forthcoming with information on how this had happened.

"Ye should've come down the moment you were able to. This wound is infected. You see the swelling, the redness; those are signs of infection that any _physician _would have noticed. There's a reason we have medical personnel here, among them, so engineers don't get the brilliant idea to treat their own serious injuries."

Rodney stopped pouting for a moment and relaxed his tense muscles, "It's infected? I…I thought it was ok, I really did. Is it bad?"

"Ach, don't be worryin' son, we'll get you fixed up proper." He was already securing a sterile gauze pad to the wound to keep out any foreign bodies until he could clean and stitch the wound when they got back up to the infirmary.

"Now let's look the rest of ye over, shall we?" He looked up to an anxious Zelenka, who up till now hadn't uttered a word.

"What else was there Zelenka?"

"Like I said, he's thrown up four times, mostly just bile the last time, not much food left considering McKay hasn't eaten a real meal since before the storm. He hasn't been able to keep his own two feet under him without starting to keel over in one direction or the other. I supported him pretty much the whole way back."

"It wasn't that bad! I could have walked back, Zelenka was just being over-protective!"

"If I had let you walk back you would have a concussion or three to add to your list! And we'd probably not even have been a third the way back at your speed in this condition!"

"Stop yer bickering lads! Let's be adults here, can we do that?"

The two stopped arguing, a bit ashamed that the doctor had called them on their juvenile behavior.

"I'm trustin' Radek on this one. I brought an IV to get your sugar headin' back in the right direction and we'll be getting a real meal in you when we've gotten you situated in the infirmary."

"Carson! You can't keep me, just stitch me up. I'll go sleep in my room."

Beckett didn't want to argue with the man any more, he knew he was keeping the man overnight, for a few days most likely until his system was sorted out, but he didn't have to tell that to Rodney right now if it meant some peace and quiet, even for a little while.

"We'll see Rodney. Let's just take a good look at you back in the infirmary and then we'll talk."

Rodney seemed to be ok with this as he stopped arguing. Beckett motioned the two Marines forward and before McKay could complain about the indignity of being picked up, one grabbed his shoulders, the other his legs, and they moved him up to the gurney.

Beckett stood up, cracking his back as he did so. Jenna had already prepared the set of IV's and handed one of the needles to him without needing to be prompted. A few months working under Carson had taught her the exact protocol he followed when treating each patient.

The fight seemed to have flowed out of Rodney. He didn't complain about the IV as Carson swabbed his good arm with antiseptic and expertly inserted the needle into a vein successfully on his first attempt. He hadn't even made a snippy comment about being handled like a sack of potatoes or something similarly insulting. The man really was exhausted.

He attached the line and handed it to his nurse. As she connected it to the sucrose-enriched bag and hung it from the pole attached to the bed, Carson was watching Rodney. His patient had his eyes closed and seemed relaxed for the first time. With that, he picked up his kit and the group moved to get Rodney to the infirmary where Carson could get down to the bottom of what exactly was going on inside Rodney's head. As they got moving, a thought kept nagging at Carson's mind, stemming from McKay's strange avoidant behavior. One thing was certain, and that was that there were details that Carson didn't have, facts that he might very well need to get to the bottom of this mystery.

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	7. Avoidant Behavior

**Author's Notes**

So, as an old-school member, I haven't written in a few years. Apparently one of the new features is the ability to respond to reviews. So from now on I will try to keep those out of the story text and will respond through that system instead. Sorry if this has annoyed anyone, and for anonymous/unregistered users, unfortunately, that means I will be unable to respond to your reviews. I hope you all continue to read, and enjoy this next installment!

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**Chapter 7: Avoidant Behavior**

Carson temporarily shunted the IV and disconnected it, allowing Rodney to change into the red scrubs he had tossed to the man. He pulled the curtain around the bed shut as he exited to give Rodney a bit of privacy and went to address the waiting Zelenka.

"Is there anything else that ye think is important?"

Radek cocked his head a bit to the side, "I told you everything I observed. What other sort of information are you looking for?"

"Rodney's acting mighty strange. It's not like him to duck out on a visit down here when he's injured. Something's up, I just don't know what yet."

"I don't know doctor. If something is affecting his behavior, it likely happened during the time I was offworld. He was fine before the evacuation that I saw and we were working closely together planning how to deactivate the grounding stations."

"That certainly helps lad. It narrows down the timeline. I'll chat with Elizabeth; she was with him during the time they were being held by Kolya."

"He will be ok, though?"

"Aye, if I have anything to say about it. It's a mixture of a few different things affecting him, we'll get him straightened out in the next few days and he'll be back to bossin' ye around in no time." Carson looked back at the curtained cubicle; he didn't hear any more rustling, deciding that it was probably safe to peak back in.

"I think he's done changing, I should get back. Ye can stop back tomorrow morning to visit if ye'd like to."

Zelenka nodded and went to depart, throwing one more look over his shoulder as he exited the infirmary and went to return to the labs. Someone would have to make sure the scientists didn't blow themselves up in McKay's absence.

McKay was sitting on the side of the bed, legs dangling over the edge. He met Carson's gaze as the doctor pulled up a tray with a suture kit on it, settling on a rolling stool in front of the scientist. He quickly reconnected the IV. McKay still hadn't said anything.

"Alright, Rodney. Your audience is gone. Now I want to know what happened here. How did this happen."

Rodney didn't hesitate for one moment, answering in an almost automatic fashion, "I cut it on a panel when I was fixing the grounding station after the Genii had shot it up Western style."

Beckett sighed, ignoring what he knew was an obvious lie for a moment, "I'm going to give you a local anesthetic so I can get this stitched up proper." Rodney nodded in understanding, his lip curling a bit as Carson injected the clear contents of the syringe into the skin surrounding the wound. "That'll take a few minutes to kick in. Tell me when your skin starts to tingle, that'll be close to the time when I can start."

He poked Rodney's finger next to take a glucose reading on it even though he was already sure that his blood sugar was low, the man had already admitted to not eating. When he checked it, results were as he expected. He quickly pulled a few vials of blood out of Rodney's good arm to have tested to identify the exact type of infection they were looking at for his arm.

That finished, he came back to what he wanted to discuss, "Rodney, if you had caught this on a panel, the wound would be jagged along the edges. This is a clean cut, and too deep for that too, it extends far down into the muscle."

He poked the skin around the edge of the wound with a reflex stick. "Can you feel this?"

Rodney shook his head, "No, you're good to go."

"Alright Rodney, why don't you get comfortable, this will take a little while to get cleaned and stitched up."

Again, no complaint from the man, not about getting poked and prodded, or ordered around. He simply complied, swinging his legs up onto the bed and laying back against the raised back portion of the bed. Rodney normally didn't like watching stuff like this. He wasn't squeamish; he just didn't see the need to watch someone else sew him up. Even if he couldn't actually feel the pain, his mind could definitely imagine it if he was watching Carson run a needle in and out of his arm. But for some reason this time, he felt the need to watch. Beckett cocked his head a bit at this, but didn't comment as he liberally doused the wound with an antiseptic and then began closing the wound.

"Rodney, I don't know why you are feelin' the need to lie to me about how this happened. I'm just concerned, you're not usually this clammed up, and please excuse my language, but saying you got this caught on a panel is bullshit. I've worked on a military base long enough to recognize a knife wound. Now I want to know who did this, and why."

Rodney didn't speak for a moment, thinking. Alright, a lie wouldn't fly with Carson he supposed. The man wasn't known to stop prodding until he got what he wanted.

"It was Kolya. He wanted to know how I planned to save the city. When I told him there wasn't one, he had one of his cronies pull a knife out. Suffice to say he got what he wanted."

Rodney's utter defeated posture made a bit more sense now, he'd seen it before. People who broke blamed themselves. "The _bastard. _Rodney, I know what yer' probably thinkin,' that this is your fault. Everyone cracks, Rodney, the only thing that varies is how long it takes."

McKay wrote him off though, a bit too wrapped up in his own beliefs, "You're right on that. I was pathetic. I lasted less than thirty fucking seconds! All it took was a little spilt blood and I poured out everything he needed to take the city!"

He put down his tools for a moment, putting a hand on Rodney's tensed arm, "Rodney, you think I would've rather had you take longer? This cut would've been the least of your worries and there would be much more fixin' to do here. No, lad, you did the smart bit. And look, no harm was done! _You _saved the city Rodney."

"Sheppard didn't think so. And he's right. He was trying to save me and I put his life in danger by giving them that information!"

Beckett's eyebrows creased in confusion, it didn't seem right that the Major would reprimand Rodney for this. The man wasn't a soldier; he certainly wasn't trained to deal with torture. Something wasn't adding up. "That doesn't sound like the Major Rodney. I'll talk to him, I'm sure ye're misunderstanding something here…"

Rodney snapped his head up at this, "You are not to discuss this with Sheppard, at all."

"Rodney-"

"Beckett, you're a physician and I know what doctor-patient confidentiality consists of and this certainly fits the bill. You want to discuss it with Elizabeth, fine she already knows. But not a word to Sheppard. This is my problem, not his."

Carson was visibly unsettled by this; Rodney was obviously feeling guilty about this. If Sheppard didn't know about this, which made sense since he was elsewhere in the city at the time, then chances were Rodney may very well not get these issues resolved. At the same time, Rodney had him in a bind and spoke the truth. If he didn't want to disclose it, then there was truthfully nothing Carson could do about it. He inhaled and exhaled deeply, thinking about it and deciding that this was an issue to press perhaps when Rodney was feelin' a little more like himself. Very likely his exhaustion, among other ailments, was warping his perception of the situation.

"Alright, Rodney. But don't think ye're just going to sweep this under the rug. We will be revisiting this issue. It's not healthy to bottle stuff like this up. I've ordered a meal in for you and ye'll be eating all of it if you want a short stay. It'll get you up and moving quicker."

He had finished stitching up the wound and busied himself filling another syringe.

"What's that?"

"Just a wee bit painkiller. The anesthetic I gave you'll be wearing off and it'll be sore. I'd rather it didn't bother you so you could maybe actually get some restful sleep. Lord knows you need it."

"Ok."

Not quite the lively answer Rodney would normally give, the man loved a good meal, but it would suffice. He'd been through a lot in the past few days and it was time to get him fixed up. He hadn't told Rodney that the painkiller contained a low-grade sedative. Just enough to let him finish a bowl of soup before tipping him over into unconsciousness. He was tired, it shouldn't take much to ease him into sleep; Beckett just wanted to speed the process a bit, perhaps give Rodney's mind a break from the guilt that plagued him.

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Kessler and Jaren had made a temporary camp down in an abandoned lab near the transporter that serviced the west pier. In their day in the city, they had done some scouting around where they were staying. Currently, the pair were donning all of the Lantean soldier's ensembles that they had stolen.

While in the lab, they had been content to shed the flak jackets, but now that they were about to try to sneak among the regular population, they needed to look the full park.

As the pair finished, Kessler addressed his partner, "Are you ready?"

"Yeah."

"Now remember the plan? Where are the grenades and flash-bangs?"

"In my bag, hang on, I'll grab them." Jaren lumbered over to his bag, flipping it open and rummaging through the miscellaneous items until he found what he was looking for. "Here you go," he raised his hand to throw the pair over one at a time.

"STOP!"

Jaren paused with his arm cocked back, preparing for the throw with a bit of a puzzled expression on his face.

"Those are explosives you dolt! Don't throw them. Get off your ass and bring them over here."

Jaren had enough common sense not to even try to justify this mistake, simply nodding, and walking over, depositing the grenades into Kessler's hand.

Jaren broke the silence, "I'm amazed the armory didn't miss these. I mean, you would think they would keep track of how much explosive stock they have down there."

"They probably normally would, but that's why I had us swing through there right as we were coming through the gate. Things were a lot more disorganized and the armory was trashed. Apparently we have the rest of the strike force to thank for that. I heard some of the other Lantean soldiers that patrolled past here; apparently they got assigned to the clean-up crew. Some of our people were down here, tore the place apart looking for the C-4. Alright, let's get going. We have places to be and not a very large window of time to get this done, the shift change is in ten minutes."

Kessler checked to see that his firearm was loaded with a full clip in case he needed to use it, and the pair headed out into the corridors of the city. For all of his normal incompetence, Kessler observed that Jaren performed his role well. He wasn't looking around gawking at the technical marvels surrounding them, he kept his face straight, his shoulders back, and the pair was able to advance all the way to their target destination without being stopped once.

Kessler turned his head as the two approached the doors. "Ok, we can't stop, just go right in. If anyone speaks, don't answer. I'll act first, and then you make sure the guards on the right side of the room are incapacitated, I'll take the left."

The doors automatically retracted as they neared the door. The Marines stationed there didn't react for a moment, the entrance of a pair of soldiers was routine enough as shift change was scheduled to occur right about then. They didn't realize that anything was amiss until the dark-haired soldier pulled the pin on a flash-bang and hurled it into the room. The Marines reached for their firearms to defend themselves even as the impostors turned toward the wall, tightly closing their eyes and covering their ears. And then the walls vibrated with a deafening blast, and the air filled with a brilliant, hot light that seared the eyes of the Lantean guards.

The earth tech performed exactly as it should have. The two Marines, taken unprepared, were both on the ground, rendered blind and deaf for at least a few seconds.

Kessler and Jaren rolled up to their feet, each pointing a firearm at one of the men. As the smoke cleared and the Marines realized their predicament, they very slowly removed their hands from their weapons and remained very still.

Sora, also momentarily incapacitated from the blast, looked through tearing eyes at the spectacle taking place outside her cell. "Don't shoot them! You know they'll be coming after us. Sheppard started killing our people last time from the get-go because Kolya killed some of his men. Let's not encourage him a second time!"

Kessler looked back and forth between the soldiers and Sora, "It's nice to see you Sora, we knew they had one of our people down here but we weren't sure who. I say we kill these two though, it means two less people to come after us."

Sora stumbled over to the edge of her cell, "I'm ranking military here. Grab the cuffs off their belts and secure them."

Kessler and Jaren complied with her order.

Sora looked down at Kessler's Marine, "Bryson, I'd like to think we've become buddies with all the hours we've spent down here together. So I think you'll respond favorably when I ask for the code. What is it?"

"No way in hell. You're not getting out of here."

Kessler looked up at the ceiling in disgust; they didn't have time for this! He could hear alarms sounding in the hallway. He pulled his gun and shot at the ceiling. "That's the only time I'm going to miss flesh. Now give it up or the next one goes in your foot. You won't be chasing after anyone soon after a hit like that."

Bryson looked at Kessler, from the anger in his eyes he knew the man wasn't lying. There was no way the Genii would get out of here anyway. Half the soldiers on the base were probably responding right now.

"Three-one-four-nine-zero."

Kessler punched the code to ensure the man wasn't lying. As the shield surrounding the cell deactivated and the doors opened, with one hand he grabbed the Marine by the back of the collar of his shirt, with the other he brought down his gun over the man's head. As Sora quickly left the confines of her cell, Jaren quickly knocked out his man as well and dropped him to the floor.

Sora stood facing the two, "Throw them in the cell and lock it. I'll be right back – there are some possessions I need to retrieve."

Kessler turned his ear toward the door, hearing feet pounding in the hallway and soldier's shouting. "No time! They're here, we have to go now."

"But my dad's knife-"

He scooped one of the Marine's discarded guns off the ground and put it in Sora's hands as he pushed her out of the room. "If we get caught again, there won't be a chance to do anything! You can come back for it later."

Jaren jogged after them. As they skidded out into the hallway, they saw a rapidly approaching regiment of Marines.

"Shit, shit, shit! Follow me!" Kessler sprinted forward in the opposite direction of the troops, his pair of companions following suit in hopes of evading the Lantean soldiers. Energy bursts started firing down the hallway, prompting Kessler and Sora to respond by randomizing their motion paths back and forth. Jaren, a little slow, failed to do so and let out a warbled cry as he collapsed to the floor having been hit by a Wraith stunner.

Sora looked back, but Kessler grabbed her arm, propelling her attention forward again. "We can't get him now. Keep moving!"

In the last day Kessler had taken the time to sneak out and explore these hallways between patrols and was following the escape route he had settled upon after reconning the area. The boots thudded behind them for a good five minutes before he led them into a narrow crevice that opened into a larger chamber. No lights lit as they entered, Kessler pulled the flashlight off his belt and lit the path in front of them. The room had apparently long been abandoned. They travelled to a far corner and then dropped to the floor where Kessler deactivated his light and the two sat in silence.

"Here's the deal. They have devices that can detect people's presence. This section has some scientists working in the area; they've been down here snooping around so we aren't the only life signs in the area. We probably have fifteen minutes until they get those people rounded up and moved out of this section at which point they will find us. My plan was to steal a jumper; I plotted the path from here to the room where they are stored. I don't think we'll have time for anything else."

"That won't work. You have to have a special gene to be able to fly the ships. Elizabeth was talking about it with Kolya, trying to say we needed the Lanteans if we were going to take the city."

"Kolya tried to take the city? He got to overly ambitious. No wonder we didn't succeed. Tell me the details later. For now, what can we do then?"

"Our main objectives were the Wraith data device they stole from us, a jumper, and some C4. The armory is going to be guarded; I don't know where they keep the device. That just leaves the jumper."

"Who has this gene? All of them?"

"No, it's rare in their people. I know Sheppard has it because he flew the jumper. Only other person I know of is McKay, he was able to use all of the technology in the control room with it when he was our prisoner."

"Ok, how can we take one of those two people with us?"

"I don't know where to find either of them…"

"Ok, Sheppard's that spiky-haired military guy who orders everyone about. And McKay?"

"He's the head scientist; he analyzes and runs a lot of the technology."

"Wait; is he in charge of the engineers?"

"Yes, why?"

"Luck is actually on our side for once. When I was scouting I had to hide from the roaming engineers every once and awhile. They were going on about how relaxed everything had been since their arrogant boss was laid up in the infirmary for a few days."

"He's the better pick. Very whiny, but he knows his stuff, if anyone can sneak us out of here, it's him. Not too hard to convince to cooperate either. You know where the infirmary is?"

"Yeah, we got a look at the map in the transporter, it's not far." He looked down at his stolen watch. "It's been seven minutes, if we are going to go; we need to do so now. They'll be scouring this area in no time."

Sora rose from her crouch. "You take point for now; you know where we're going."

Kessler nodded, peaking his head out into the hallway to ensure it was clear as the pair exited the room and jogged off.

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	8. Faith, and Faith Alone

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**Chapter 8 – Faith, and Faith Alone**

Kessler and Sora wrapped up the convoluted path they had taken through the city in hopes of avoiding as many people as they could for the time being. Their trip had been largely unhindered, they had run into a pair of scientists roaming in the city, but raising their guns as they approached had signaled to the researchers that they weren't in the mood for delays. The pair had quickly flattened themselves against the wall as they passed. Now in the more occupied sections of the city, the pair had moved at an even more rapid speed, understanding that their whereabouts could be reported at any moment. Kessler could have blended in well enough with his Marine uniform, but Sora's bright orange jumpsuit was a glaring identifier of her status as a now-escaped prisoner.

The two skidded to a stop right outside of the infirmary, leaning up against the wall, both breathing heavily from their sprint. Kessler poked his head around the corner to recon the area and look for any obstacles that might prevent their success. Not seeing any military personnel, he nodded to Sora and the pair entered the infirmary with guns raised.

The infirmary was relatively empty; one nurse sitting at a desk toward the front, with two men in infirmary beds. One was eating, immediately stopping to warily watch the armed pair that had entered. The other was snoozing, a light snore piercing the now-otherwise silent infirmary.

Kessler moved to the nurse, gun still pointed at her. Her eyes opened widely, "Wha…What do you guys want here?"

"Just picking up a friend and we'll be on our way."

"What friend? The only people here are injured…"

"Enough small talk. Sora, which one do we want?"

Sora moved away from Kessler's side, strolling toward the other two occupants. "He's the sleeping one."

"Ok, let's get him and leave. Wake him up." He swung his attention back the nurse, "What's wrong with him?"

"That's confidential-"

"Normally, sure. But wouldn't you call these circumstances a little extraordinary," he asked, raising his gun again for emphasis.

"Dr. Beckett was keeping him for observation. He's a little exhausted, worked himself a little too hard."

"Ok, no major issues then?"

"I suppose not…but really, he needs to stay here."

"Actually he needs to come with us, Sora, you waking him up or not?"

The nurse tried to rebut one more time, "What need could you possibly have for a sick scientist? He's only going to slow you down."

"Shut up! No more talking. Sora?"

Sora was shaking the scientist.

His eyes fluttered open slowly and he opened his mouth into a large yawn. Before he was totally focused he let out an angry retort, "I thought you guys wanted me to sleep. How is that supposed to happen if you keep waking me up?"

"Slight change of plans Dr. McKay. You'll be coming with us."

McKay's eyes shot open at this, he recognized that voice. It was distinctly Genii. His hand unconsciously moved to protectively cover his injured appendage.

"No way, there's no way this is happening." He realized that was showing how nervous he was, and immediately tried to compose himself, "We already did this once, remember? It ended badly for you guys."

Kessler took the time to cut in, "Apparently not as badly as you thought, we are here, aren't we? We're leaving. Now! Get your ass out of bed before I decide a little violent persuasion might get you to go faster."

Sora pulled on McKay's arm, "Do it, McKay."

"Stop it! There's a needle in that arm in case you didn't notice!"

Sora examined the tubing attached to the arm and loosened her grip a bit. "Get rid of it."

He realized he didn't have much say in what was going on, peeling the tape off the back of his hand before slowly withdrawing the needle and putting a finger over the spot to stop the slight bleeding that accompanied it.

"Ok, that's everything. Let's go."

"What about my clothes? I can't very well go running around in scrubs."

"We're not exactly the most fashionable bunch right now, in case you haven't noticed."

Sora pushed McKay forward as he rolled off the bed and wobbly found his balance. He'd had a few hours of sleep but definitely wasn't in peak form.

Kessler stood by the nurse until Sora and McKay had passed before withdrawing his gun and jogging out of the room after them.

As McKay was hurried along he took the time to question his captors, "Where are we going?"

"We're getting a jumper and leaving. You're going to help us."

As they hustled along the hallway at a brisk walk, McKay cut in, "I don't even have shoes, in case you haven't noticed! I need my gear, a uniform at the very least."

Kessler raised his hand to strike the man, "You're just trying to stall, hoping your precious Sheppard will rescue you. Don't try that shit with me."

He didn't have a witty response to that. They were planning on kidnapping him, fuck; he really thought his suffering at the hands of the Genii was over.

"How many guards in the jumper room?"

McKay realized this could work in his favor, "None…There aren't any. We're still operating on a skeleton crew right now."

Kessler grabbed Rodney's shoulder and leaned in close as they continued through the hallway, "I just want you to know I hate being taken by surprise. If we run into any unexpected Marines, I may just accidently shoot someone. Are you sure there aren't any soldiers in there?"

McKay flinched as the man grabbed him, remembering his less-than-friendly treatment the last time this had happened. As much as he didn't want this to happen, he couldn't let other people to get hurt in his attempt to escape, "Fine, two Marines are stationed there around the clock."

"See? We make so much more progress when we cooperate and work together. It's good to start now, we'll be a team from here on out. Where are they stationed?"

"To the left and right of the door as we approach."

Kessler was playing the schematics of Atlantis through his head, he had also scouted this area, they were close. "Ok, Sora, we're almost there. You keep your gun trained on our soldier friends; mine will be pointed at McKay's head."

"You won't make it past them! They'll see you the moment we get close."

"That's where you come in McKay. You're our golden goose here. You seem to have a good sense of self-preservation, just don't try anything."

They trio rounded the last corner, and as anticipated, the marines, in seeing Sora's prisoner clothes and the weapons, pulled their own guns out. One shouted out, "Stop where you are and lay down your weapons."

Before Kessler could jump in, Sora took over, perfectly prepared to show the men who had held her prisoner that they meant business. "I'm sure you two are bright. You'll recognize that we have Dr. Rodney McKay as our hostage. As I understand it, he's an extremely valuable asset to your people; I couldn't imagine how you would explain his death to your superiors. Lay down _your_ weapons."

The two gripped onto their weapons even tighter, considering their options. Kessler whipped his head around as he heard boots pounding on the metal floors further on.

"Shit, one of them must have tipped them off somehow." He pulled his last flash bang from his belt, pulling the pin, and rolling it down the hall in the direction of the approaching of the soldiers. He then turned and opened fire on the pair of guards in front of the doors, bullets ricocheting off the door with metallic pings. Once the two guards were on the ground, bleeding from various wounds, he motioned the other two through the doors.

He turned to McKay. "Time to put that brain of yours to work. Deactivate the door; you probably have about thirty seconds before they recover from that grenade. Know we'll kill you before giving you back if we don't get out of here"

McKay looked at the gun and quickly opened the panel next to the door and pulled out all of the crystals, having no time to conduct the procedure with finesse. He narrowed his eyes and turned to his captors.

"That's it?"

"That'll hold them for a few minutes. Can't promise much past that."

Sora was already moving into the bay toward a jumper with its back hatch open, coming back a moment later with another individual in tow.

He came out, arms in the air. "What is this about?"

McKay turned to see what was going on, "Zelenka?"

"Rodney? I thought you were resting?"

"I was until these two decided to crash the party," he said, motioning to Kessler standing behind him.

There was pounding on the door. "May I reiterate the need to hurry? Sora, can you secure him?" He threw his own pair of handcuffs to Sora before turning his attention back to Rodney.

"McKay, you were complaining about your wardrobe, I take it you can find a spare outfit somewhere in here?"

"Yes, but that will require you to stop chasing me around with your gun for a minute. Could you do that maybe?"

Kessler lowered his gun slightly, "Go fast, don't try anything, and grab a second outfit for Sora. Orange just isn't a flattering color."

A few minutes later Zelenka was handcuffed to a handle on one of the neighboring jumpers, muttering under his breath in Czech and worriedly watching Rodney. He came out from behind the jumper wearing a full tactical suit instead of the scrubs. His complexion had taken on a white quality, and Zelenka didn't miss the way he periodically steadied himself against the hull of a jumper or a stack of transport bins.

"Look, it's Sora, right? Look at Rodney. He's not healthy; he'll only slow you down. Take me. I can do anything he is capable of doing, we work together."

Finishing buckling her own tactile vest, she decided the inquiry couldn't hurt. McKay did look a little unbalanced. "You are an engineer?"

"Yes."

"Can you fly a jumper?"

"Uh…yes."

Rodney glared over at the man. As if one of them being in trouble wasn't enough. Zelenka was going to get himself killed. "Shut up Zelenka. He doesn't have the gene and can't fly a jumper. Problem solved."

"Rodney! You are not trained to fly a jumper either!"

"I've gone out with Sheppard plenty of times; he's let me take the controls over the mainland a few times."

"That doesn't equate with being proficient-"

The pounding that they had become accustomed to over the past few minutes had halted and a loud whine began piercing the air, "They're cutting their way in. Time to go." He grabbed McKay, pulling him onto the Jumper as Sora hit the button to close the rear hatch.

McKay headed up to the front of the Jumper.

"Ok McKay, you can do this," the scientist said, as if to reassure himself that this was actually possible. He clenched and unclenched his hands into fists a few times before gently settling them onto the controls.

"I suppose there's a way out of here? A hatch?"

"Oh yeah, roof panel. Let's do that." God, he felt sluggish. Operating a jumper in his condition was probably not the best idea. He had a sneaking suspicion that Beckett's painkiller cocktail had a bit of a sedative in it, judging by the drowsiness he was still experiencing.

The jumper turned on, humming with energy as it detected his gene. Hitting a few buttons led to the roof hatch opening. He carefully raised the jumper to hover right off the ground before directing it upward, scraping the right side of the hull on the hatch on the way out, the impact jolting the two Genii, Sora falling into Kessler as he braced himself by grabbing the netting supporting the jumper's cargo.

"You know how to fly this thing?"

"I can fly just fine! Just…be quiet and let me focus!" He watched the city shrink below him as they travelled further from it, and any chance of a rescue he might have.

"Where exactly are we flying, seeing as the only gate was back in the city?"

"We can fly to another planet and utilize their gate."

Rodney felt a moment of panic. He would never be rescued if he went off planet. "No, we actually can't. The closest planet with a gate is more than thirty-six hours of flight from here. Our air supply is limited, good for fifteen hours max." Ok, so their air scrubbers would mean the air would actually last as long as their power did, but no need to tell that little bit.

Kessler grumbled, "Then we will have to eventually return. You'll have to figure it out."

Sora had a sudden realization and broke in, "Did you activate your invisibility shield? I know you can do it, you've used it when you deceived my people and stole the Wraith data device."

McKay started to breathe more rapidly. He had gotten by on the lie about the air scrubbers, only to be caught in another deception.

Kessler bounced his gaze between Sora and McKay before clutching his gun more tightly, "Have you?"

"I…I was trying to get us clear of the city without crashing. Forgive me if I was worried about that first!"

"I thought we had gone over the need for cooperation. Sora tells me you respond well to threats. Well here's a real one." He walked over and jabbed the barrel of his gun up against the back of McKay's head. McKay went to shake his head and turn around to face the Genii, only to have Kessler jab him again.

"Head forward. We need you paying attention to where we're going. Believe me when I say I won't hesitate to kill you if I think you're more trouble than your worth. Now activate the shield."

McKay swallowed and complied, pressing a few buttons and cutting the last thread of hope to allowing Sheppard and the others to track and rescue him.

"It's done."

"Good."

McKay didn't dare turn his head, but he felt the man withdraw the barrel of his gun from the back of his head.

"Care to tell me where I should fly this thing?"

"To the nearest landmass. I know this ugly world can't be all ocean."

Rodney didn't respond, but he pulled up the schematic of the planet, and changing course toward the mainland. The two Genii lowered themselves onto the benches behind him and began catching each other up on their happenings. Kessler frowned as Sora wracked off the list of failures and casualties, also reporting her suspicion that Kolya was dead. Kessler filled her in on how they had managed to infiltrate Atlantis and plan her rescue. After approximately one hour of flight, Kessler looked out through the windshield to see thick foliage below.

"McKay, I told you to put down as soon as we came to land."

"No, you said to fly toward land; you never said anything about landing."

"I'll ask for your opinion when I want it."

"Not to mention, apparently you haven't taken notice, there's foliage down there. The Ancients may have been advanced, but they didn't quite figure out how to land a jumper in a tree."

Kessler stood up, using the netting to steady himself as he moved forward. "I've had it with your snarky comments. You obviously have no discipline, and don't know when to hold your tongue. That ends now."

He pulled a knife off his belt. "Sora tells me this worked quite well for Kolya." He sat down in the chair next to Rodney and sliced the bandage off McKay's arm. Rodney went to pull it back in defense, but Kessler put his hand on it, "Both hands on the controls if you would be so kind."

"Gotta admire a master's handiwork when you see it," he said, looking back at Sora, "If Kolya is dead the Genii will sorely miss his leadership. Always knew how to get people to follow orders. Even managed to rein me in, if you can believe it."

McKay was sweating bullets. Not again, not fucking again. He flinched as Kessler ran the flat of his blade along his already injured arm. He took a second to glance at the man, and saw the same sadistic gleam of enjoyment he had seen in Kolya's eyes when he had ordered this treatment. As Kessler looked up he immediately looked forward again, not wanting to provoke the man with the knife in any way.

"Kessler, he's cooperating. You don't need to do this."

McKay was a bit puzzled at why Sora would suddenly come to his defense, although he supposed that she had shown a bit of mercy while he was Kolya's prisoner. Maybe she didn't have such a taste for blood as her superiors.

"I think I do, actually. Dr. McKay has attempted subterfuge several times, he's tried stalling, enabling the Lateans to trace us, who knows what else he's lied about." Rodney closed his eyes as he felt the tip of the blade against his skin, felt the first stitch pop. He silently cursed and decided that the universe must really hate him for this much to happen to him in such a short window of time. This was ridiculous even by Atlantis standards of what quantified average risks for danger. No way did this happen to him twice without someone out there cursing him.

And as the Genii soldier popped the second suture, suddenly the world seemed to pause and McKay was totally calm for the first time since the Genii had step foot into his city. He'd been captured, tortured, threatened with death, not once, but twice. And he'd survived this far by depending on others to save him. Who knew if help would come this time, that card had already fallen in his favor once, asking for a second miracle was asking a bit much. He was done with this, done with being bossed around and having his life and safety held over his head. God knows the Genii wouldn't let him go, they'd either kill him in the end or take them back to their world to use him as a bargaining chip.

The third suture split under pressure from the blade, and for the first time in as long as he could remember, Rodney McKay took his life in his own hands and hoped for the best. Reaching down with his quivering good hand, he buckled his seat belt as he jerked his other arm away from the blade, severely jerking the steering control to the side. The jumper skewed sideways, Kessler losing his grip on the blade as he flailed outwards to grab onto anything that would stop his body as it was violently flung out of its seat. McKay didn't dare look away from his steering to see where Sora was at. There were no calculated odds this time, only his faith and determination to bring this risky maneuver off correctly. Taking a deep breath and steeling himself, he put the jumper into a barrel roll and aimed it downwards, causing it to plummet towards the ground below.

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	9. Game Plan

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**Chapter 9 – Game plan**

Sheppard was standing over the beds of his two recently recovered men, discussing with Carson their condition as they were cut off midsentence.

"Gentlemen, can we table this discussion for a moment and save it for our debrief," Elizabeth said as she walked up to the pair, unfolding her crossed arms and glancing at her watch, "by my count, which was supposed to start fifteen minutes ago."

"Elizabeth, I thought we were meeting you up in the conference room," Sheppard said a little surprised at her sudden appearance.

"So did I, but the absence of my chief military and medical officers left me no choice but to come down here myself," she said with a sigh, "I swear I spend more time chasing the lot of you around Atlantis than actually running this place."

"Oh…sorry. We were on our way."

She nodded down at the man on the bed, "Carson, are you at a point where you feel comfortable stepping out and leaving this to your staff?"

"Aye lass, let's get on with this, shall we?" Carson left instructions with one of his nurses that he should be notified with any dramatic changes in status of either of his patients, gathering his data pad on the way out as the trio of leaders made their way to the conference room.

When they walked in Zelenka was already seated, typing extremely rapidly and muttering under his breath low enough that Sheppard couldn't make out whether it was in English or Czech. He cut off midsentence as the others took up their own seats, looking up at them before returning to his anxious typing.

Elizabeth rolled her chair up close to the table, sitting up straight and folding her hands on the table before beginning, "Alright, we seem to all be here, why don't we get started. Sheppard, why don't you start by telling us what you found on Menara?"

"Not much to tell, it took us a few hours to find our men, they had been stripped of their gear, gagged, bound, and left for god knows how long. I brought them back and dropped them in the infirmary, Carson said they were both dehydrated which explained their unconsciousness and unresponsiveness. His staff was getting them set up, running the tests, the normal treatment. That would be about when you came in."

"So you haven't gotten a chance to talk to your men about what happened to them on Menara?"

"No, not yet."

"Lass, they're both extremely dehydrated; it'll be at least another twelve hours by my count before either regains consciousness."

Sheppard leaned forward in his chair, "Now how bout you tell me what's going on here? Where's Rodney and why all of a sudden are we being rushed up here for this meeting? We never debrief this rapidly unless something is going on."

Elizabeth unfolded her hands, laying them flat on the table, composing her thoughts and trying to figure out how to say what she had to say in a way that wouldn't have Sheppard shooting through the roof in anger.

"John, you just got back, so I am assuming you don't know what happened here…"

All of a sudden Sheppard fixed a stern gaze on Elizabeth, "What happened? Did something happen to Rodney?"

Elizabeth opened her mouth and then closed it again, not sure where to start. Carson watched her, empathizing with her situation. Rodney and the Major were friends, and a lot had happened that was cause for worry. He relieved Elizabeth for a moment, jumping in.

"It started when we got a call from Zelenka; Rodney was a bit exhausted from all the excitement that went on with the Genii invasion, I pulled him down into the infirmary to enforce some rest on the poor man, make sure he ate, you know how he gets when he thinks the city's in danger…"

"So is he ok? I didn't see him down in the infirmary."

"Aye, we were on our way to getting him straightened out, but then we had a mishap-"

Elizabeth had recomposed herself, gathered her thoughts, and smoothly took over, directing a short nod at Carson in appreciation of him stepping in to start, "Somehow we got two more Genii in the city. They sprung Sora out-"

Sheppard's chair went rolling back as he thrust it backwards and rose to his feet in one forceful motion, banging his fist onto the table, "Sora's out?!? She's the one Genii we had to question!"

"John, calm down and let me finish. We do have a prisoner now, I'll get to that. Would you care to sit back down so we can continue?"

"Nah, I think I'm good standing. But I'll shut up. Keep going."

"A pair of male Genii soldiers dressed in Marine uniforms entered the brig during a shift change, disarmed your guards with flash bang grenades, and then stole away with Sora. We managed to disarm one of them with a wraith stunner; he's currently in one of the private rooms in the infirmary under guard while he recovers."

"How long ago was this?"

"About twenty minutes ago, it all happened really fast. From there Sora and the other Genii soldier entered the infirmary with weapons, and took Rodney at gunpoint-"

"They have Rodney?!? You're telling me that a pair of Genii soldiers once again has our most brilliant scientist? I really thought we were done, that the Genii couldn't possibly make this any worse."

"John, that's not all. From there they made a b-line for the jumper bay where they killed the Marines conducting guard duty, barricaded themselves inside, and while our men were working to get the door open, they took off in a jumper."

John just stood there dumbfounded for a moment, trying to process the entire sequence of events in his head. "What…how did this happen?"

"We don't know. Right now that isn't important. We have a man missing; we can iron out the details later. Right now priority number one is finding Rodney and recovering the jumper. Zelenka, what have you found so far?"

Zelenka looked up from his computer for the first time since the meeting began, weariness showing in his red eyes, "They headed out of the bay through the roof hatch. We were able to track them for the first ten minutes after their departure at which time they cloaked the jumper and we lost them."

Sheppard had started pacing, deep in thought as he began working on a plan of attack, "Ok, well, the gate is here, so they won't have gone back to Genii, right?"

"You are making the assumption that they stayed on planet. There are gates within flying distance of Atlantis that they could have utilized.

"I get that Zelenka, thank you. But let's give Rodney the benefit of the doubt here. He is a self-proclaimed genius. For now, we will operate on the assumption that they are still on this planet, I would imagine Rodney wouldn't have piloted them off-world. He would have calculated the miniscule chance of rescue if that were to occur. We are talking about the man with the largest sense of self-preservation on this team."

Zelenka had set his laptop aside, now fully engaged in the dialogue taking place, "Even making that assumption, I have no way of establishing a search area. They could be anywhere on the planet by now."

"Well, the gate they will want is here, so we know that eventually they will come back. I'll have the guard on the room increased."

Zelenka's eyes opened with excitement as he thought of an idea, "I can have some of our scientists work on creating a failsafe on the gate room recognition software. Every jumper has a particular identification code; I will have that code blocked from accessing the gate room through the bay if they choose to return. That should hinder any attempt to gate back to Genii, or at least slow them down if they set Rodney to working through our programs."

Sheppard pointed at Zelenka, "That's a good start, excellent. Give that to some of your other engineers, I still want you working on helping devise a way we can locate that jumper. If they've landed, it has to be on the mainland, I'll arrange for a few teams, one led by myself, to do fly-bys over the continent and see if we can detect or see anything. Then the last order of business is our prisoner. We need to get him talking."

Elizabeth looked over at Carson, "How is his recovery progressing?"

Sheppard added in his own bit, asking the most pertinent question on his own mind, "Is he talking yet?"

"Major, yer men shot him with a wraith stunner twenty minutes ago. That's not much of a recovery time. I checked his pupil dilation right before you brought your men in; it was still sluggish, suggesting he hasn't recovered much from the stunner. All he's done so far is drool and moan. Not much on the order of a coherent response."

"Can you speed it up at all?"

Carson looked down at his data pad, scrolling through the latest biofeedback readouts he had from the man, "I'm doing the best I can, monitoring his progress. I'll get back to as soon as he started mumbling anything."

"What about stimulants? You've done that with our Wraith prisoners in the past when we needed to interrogate them. You even said the last one was up and on his feet probably twice as fast as he would have been otherwise."

"I can't do that in this case. I've never tested it on a human."

John walked over to Carson's side of the table, pausing next to him and looking down at Carson "Well here's your golden opportunity, isn't it?"

Carson narrowed his eyes and spun his gaze over his shoulder and up at the major, refusing to be intimidated, "I'm saying it'd be dangerous to try, too dangerous. A wraith stunner suppresses the body's motor functions. This also affects some of the organs, heart and respiration rates are slowed, it works much like a sedative would. A stimulant does the exact opposite, speeding up the body's processes-"

"Exactly! Speed it up, get him talking!"

"Major, ye didn't let me finish. The two effects, one slowing, and one speeding, can interact very poorly, the body's systems can get to the point where they don't know whether to do one or the other and can crash."

"But it worked with the Wraith…"

"Aye, but a Wraith ain't a human, their biology is completely different."

"You said yourself you would need to test it to be sure-"

"Look Major, I'm sorry. I'm the medical doctor here, and this is a human, currently a man that is my patient. He's not a Wraith and I am not about to go about playing with his life."

"He may be your patient, but as an enemy combatant, he is also a prisoner under my jurisdiction and I'm saying to do it. Getting Rodney back is more important than waiting around and hoping luck falls out of the sky!"

Realizing that Sheppard was far too worked up to see this rationally, Carson appealed to Elizabeth for support, "Elizabeth, lass, we can't do this. If we do this, we're no better than the wraith, this could kill that man."

Sheppard also turned to Elizabeth, "And I'm saying that not doing this, that could kill Rodney."

Elizabeth switched her gaze from Carson to John, back and forth a few times, evaluating the situation before finally breaking the tense silence, "Carson, I understand that as a medical doctor you are going to have objections to this. But John's right, this is Rodney. You said yourself we need to recover him as quickly as possible. How fast will the stimulants get him talking?"

Beckett stared daggers at her, letting the anger bleed into his voice, "Assuming it doesn't kill him?"

She sighed, "Yes, assuming it doesn't kill him."

"Probably within the hour."

Elizabeth rolled her own chair back and standing up, "Ok, let's do it. Everyone has objectives to work on. Keep each other updated, and let's get our brilliant, arrogant scientist back."

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	10. All We Have

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**Chapter 10 – All We Have**

Rodney groaned, shaking his head and cracking his eyes open as he tried to orient himself. Why was everything sore all of a sudden? Double images of everything eventually merged into one hazy one as he looked around. The window in front of him was shattered, a gentle wind brushing his hair against his forehead. Where was he again? He craned his neck around, to see gear strewn around the back of the cabin, ok, he was in a jumper. One step closer to knowing what was going on was a good start. He passed his gaze over the several cases of equipment that had popped open, their contents now adorning the rear compartment in a fine mess. McKay paused his examination of his surroundings as he eyed a body in the back. A teammate? Injured maybe? And then he saw the fiery red hair and his eyes snapped open as the day's events came racing back through his mind. Sora, a second round with the Genii, culminating in his suicidal plunge toward the ground.

Fuck! He was fucked! A prisoner again. He put a hand up to his face in frustration. This never should have happened again. But wait, he looked back over at the body, not stirring. He was the only one awake, maybe the only one alive, he hadn't checked on his captor. Wait, wasn't it captors, as in plural? Where had the second one gone? He squinted, trying to focus again, scrubbing at his face to try to wipe away the weariness from his vision as he looked around the jumper again. He saw a pair of legs sticking out from beneath a large black case against the rear hatch, also not moving.

Realizing he needed to take advantage of the fact that he was the only one up and about, he went to raise himself out of his control chair and find something to secure the other two people with, only to be jerked back into the seat as he went to stand up, something pulling across his chest. He collapsed back into the chair as a pain ignited in his chest, he tried to muffle his outburst not wanting to alert either of the currently unconscious companions, but he was unable to suppress it completely and a whimper escaped his mouth. Ok, unbuckle the seatbelt first, then personal inventory, and then secure the Genii.

He reached over with a shaky hand and unbuckled his jumper harness before using his offhand to lift up his shirt and try to see what was wrong with his chest. He focused his gaze on his bared torso, wincing sharply as he took in the mottled shades of blue and greens that painted a stripe across his chest along where the harness had held him. "God, I look like a watercolor painting," he muttered quietly to himself. As much as it hurt, he couldn't curse it too much, the harness had done its job and prevented him from going through the windshield or flying back against the wall, he appeared to have fared better than his companions.

He gently pressed against the bruising, trying to determine if it was just bruising or something worse. He flinched violently as he ran his fingers down the right side of his torso, feeling something hard shift under the skin. Had to be broken ribs. Fuck, again, but taking care of them would have to wait. Had to secure the Genii before they woke up.

He moved all of his limbs to make sure they were in working order, and finding no other areas of extreme discomfort save his already injured arm, about half the sutures were split but the blood had mostly dried along the edges, they must have crashed awhile ago if that had been the case. He silently thanked his good fortune that he was the first one to awake, assuming the other two were still alive.

He bit his lip as he slid to the edge of his seat, then steadying himself against the control panel he managed to rise to his feet. Everything ached as he maneuvered between the two seats up front and back toward the rear compartment, weaving around the gear scattered about the cabin. His boot hit caught on something, almost enough to make him lose his balance. Cursing and looking downwards, pulling a leg back to kick the offending item, he stopped and picked it up instead. It was gun that Kessler had been threatening him with. He stuck it into the holster on his borrowed uniform and continued on.

He reached Sora first; she was lying on her side with her back against one of the benches, blood leaking down the side of her face from a gash on her forehead. He slowly lowered his fingers in front of her mouth, feeling a hot exhalation of air, enough to suggest she was breathing and alive. For the moment bypassing a more thorough medical exam, he quickly snatched handcuffs dangling from her belt, pulling one arm toward him and then reaching for the other. Sora reacted sharply to his motion, emitting a sharp yelp as her eyes opened, wandering around for a moment before focusing in on him.

"Stop..." She weakly tried to pull her left arm away from him but he tightened his grip and snapped the pair of handcuffs on before she could start struggling too much. There were some incomprehensible moans from her as she tried to figure out what happened and why it hurt.

"Hurts…bastard." He watched her for a moment, she seemed close to tears, again trying to move her left arm back toward her side, clenching and unclenching a shaking hand.

McKay narrowed his gaze, focusing on her left arm for the cause of her complaints, noticing that the arm hung at the wrong angle and the shoulder looked odd somehow.

"Looks like you busted your shoulder," he didn't remove the cuffs but did put an arm behind her back and helped her sit up and lean against the leg of a bench.

Sora still wasn't totally with it, whimpering softly as her eyes roamed around the inside of the jumper as she experienced the same disorientation that McKay had just gone through.

"You stay put, I'm gonna check on your buddy," he said, wanting to get him secured as well before Sora's mutterings roused the man.

He slowly stood back up, and made his way to the rear of the jumper. He looked down at the case sitting on top of Kessler's legs; it was black and plastic, about two feet by three feet with a red cross insignia on the lid. Despite the total mess he was in, he couldn't help a breathless chuckle at the fact that the man had been hit with the medical case, irony never failed to lighten a dismal situation. He bent down to roll the medical case off the Genii, not trusting that he was strong enough yet to lift it up. Carson insisted on packing large amounts of medical paraphernalia in each one, he knew it wasn't light.

He winced as he hunched down to roll it off the man, not pushing it too far on the assumption that he would soon have need of it. Kessler was on his back, his chest rising and falling suggesting that his collision with the wall during the crash hadn't been fatal. The lower half of his body told a different story. Something white poked through his black pant leg which was wet with what Rodney assumed with blood. The leg had an open fracture; Kessler wouldn't be chasing after him or intimidating him any time soon. He figured he probably didn't need to secure the man, considering the condition he was in, but he search him for any concealed weapons, confiscating the one he found in a leather ankle holster and sticking it through his belt.

He knelt down further, patting the man on the cheek, "Wake up, sleeping beauty." When there was no reaction he hardened his blow a bit until the man slowly began to rouse.

Kessler was quicker to orient himself, immediately locking eyes with Rodney as an angry scowl formed across his face. "What the fuck…did you do?"

"We crashed," he said, flashing a glance back over to Sora to see her watching their exchange, not moving about, just content to rest for the moment and avoid aggravating her injuries.

Kessler grumbled something under his breath. He leveled a punch at McKay, finding that violence had worked previously, and snapped, "You look at me, we weren't done."

A vein bulged in McKay's neck as he snapped his head upwards, spots momentarily dancing across his vision as he wrapped his hands around his torso as it lit up with pain again. After breathing heavily for a moment he turned back to Kessler, sheen of sweat beginning to form on his forehead.

He managed to relinquish the tight grip he had over his ribs and pulled the gun out, turning back to Kessler. McKay was pissed now. He'd helped the soldier, made sure he was still alive, and the guy still thought he was in charge. The anger from the previous thirty-six hours boiled in his veins. Everyone had ordered him around, beat him up, he was done with this man's arrogance and cruelty. He raised the gun and brought the barrel of it down over Kessler's injured appendage with a medium strength blow.

"AHHH!" Kessler immediately curled forward, clutching at the aggravated injury, seething silently for a moment.

As Kessler worked to recompose himself, McKay went back to cradling his own torso with his injured arm as he began speaking in a determined voice, "You listen here, up until a few moments ago, you were in charge. That's not the case now, is it? I have the weapons, and have more mobility than you or your partner. That makes me in charge. You're done using threats and violence and telling me what to do."

Through a snarled expression and bloodshot eyes Kessler looked up at him with rage in his eyes, "And just what do you plan to do? Kill me," he said in an amused tone, "You're a spineless coward. It's not in you."

"You're right; I'm not going to kill you. I'm going to get myself out of this royal mess you've put me in. You can just wait there until I do decide what I am going to do." Rodney looked back over at Sora who still hadn't spoken; her eyes were half closed, perhaps focusing on blocking out the pain.

"Sora, you alive over there?"

"Barely," she mumbled, "No thanks to your failed acrobatics."

McKay waited to see if she was going to speak again, but with no further response, he moved away from Kessler who was still glaring at him but not moving either, perhaps realizing that it would only hurt him more. He scooped a data pad off the ground from where it had fallen after the crash, the screen was cracked but the sturdy device's hardware was still intact, booting up as he turned it on. He sat on the bench opposite Sora, connecting his data pad into a port on the wall as he began examining the damage.

His brow creased as the jumper's schematics didn't come up on the screen like they should have. He limped his way to the front, gently lowering himself back into the control chair and trying the port up there, nothing, again. McKay put his hands on the controls which should have responded to his gene and activated at least something. Again, nothing. Something was wrong; he bent down and pulled the latch to release the panel that would allow him access to the data crystals and Lantean tech that allowed the jumper to operate. A thick black smoke escaped from the panel, causing him to sit back up and turn his head away to breathe real air instead of the smoke. He put a hand down to fan it away, peaking down and seeing that the smoke was clearing he went down for a second look. Four of the seven crystals were totally demolished, a fifth cracked. Many wired were blackened and melted together. The best he could deduce was that a small fire must have lit in the compartment when they crashed.

"Damn it."

Kessler looked over at him, "What, realize that maybe your brilliant plan to crash wasn't really all that brilliant?"

"The jumper's fried. I can't fly us back."

Kessler just sneered, "So what do you propose? We swim back to your marvelous city? Hell, we don't even know where we are! Face it, Dr. McKay, we may not be dead yet, but you've put us well down that path."

McKay pulled one of the broken crystals out of its slot, holding it up to the light to examine it more closely, no, there was no way he could fix this, "Just shut up and let me think. It's not like a stupid grunt worker like you is going to come up with a plan."

Ok, they had a medical kit to treat any immediate injuries. They should have enough water and MRE's to get them through at least a week, each jumper was well stocked in case teams got stranded. That still left them no way to signal for help. He pulled up a map on the planet on his data pad and pin point their location on it. They were well-inland on the mainland. A blue dot close to their location called his attention and his eyes lit up as he started to formulate a plan.

With a new burst of energy he shuffled over to the medical case and popped the lid, looking through to see what exactly they had. They had five vials of morphine, each good for approximately six hours. Kessler seemed to be in the most pain at the moment, but he didn't know if he was ready to assist the man who had kidnapped him and forced him out here in the first place. As he rolled the vials in his fingers he decided to take a look at Sora first. He dragged the bulky medical case along the floor over to where she still hadn't stirred from.

"You ok?"

"No, I'm hurt, and your handcuffs are making what would be moderate discomfort absolute agony."

"We have to get your shoulder back in its joint; I think I can do it."

She started to scoot away from him as he moved to place a hand on her shoulder, "You think? What kind of medical training does an engineer have?"

He scratched his head for a moment, "I got my first-aid badge back when I was a boy scout."

She looked at him puzzled, not sure what a boy scout was, "Does that qualify you for fixing this," she said, motioning to her arm.

"Well…not exactly…"

She winced and scooted further away from him until she was halted by debris blocking her way along the bench and snarled at him, "Then get away from me. This is your fault in the first place. You're not about to go making it worse."

"You're trigger happy friend over there isn't going to be any help and we need to go find help. This planet is huge; the chances of them finding us aren't good. That means it's you and me."

She looked up at him, a pained expression on her face, "And when…Dr. McKay, did this change from you to us? If I remember correctly it's you holding the gun. Doesn't seem like much of a team effort here."

"We're all hurt. My ribs are busted and I can't go it alone. That means it's you and me."

"And me? You planning on leaving me here to die?" Kessler asked from his end of the jumper, "Maybe I was wrong and you do have the balls to off me."

McKay smiled, "I don't plan on hauling your ass with me if that's what you're wondering."

Kessler opened his mouth to protest but McKay turned away from him for the moment and back to Sora, the one he would need mobile to be able to pull this off. "You're right; I do have the gun for once. You guys have had your chance to run the show and cut me up and threaten to shoot me. I do think it's my turn. So I'm going to fix your shoulder the best I can and we are going to get out of here. The choice you do get is this, morphine or not. We have six vials, that's two for each of us. It's gonna hurt like a bitch when I roll your shoulder back into its joint, and it'll hurt a lot later on. You want to use one of yours now or hold off?"

Sora glared at him, perhaps for the first time understanding what it meant to have someone else make decisions for you, much as they had in kidnapping him. "I'll go without. Just do it."

He took the key to the handcuffs out of his pocket and using it to unlock the cuff on her injured arm. Not trusting Sora to not try anything he snapped the vacant cuff around a bench leg so she couldn't try to hit him and make off. He helped her sit up, firmly grabbing the shoulder between two flat palms. He used his injured arm to stabilize against and his good one to give the joint one solid jerk in the right direction.

Sora cried out sharply and then went limp, passed out. He gently felt around the shoulder to make sure it was in. He wasn't much of a physician, that was Carson's department but it didn't look deformed anymore, just swollen and probably sore as hell. He fashioned a makeshift sling from some bandages he pulled from the medical kit and then wrapped some around her chest and injured arm a few times to secure the limb against her chest like he'd seen a medic do in the field the one time that this had happened to a soldier in their company before they could get him back to the infirmary.

He applied a few butterfly bandages to the cut on her forehead and then leaned back against the bench himself for a few moments, his ribs throbbing in complaint from the constant moving he'd been doing. He took shallow breaths to try to lessen the flare of pain he felt each time his lungs expanded.

Kessler watched as he did all of this, not commenting on anything.

McKay was perfectly content to ignore the man as well, they hadn't exactly started off on great terms and things hadn't improved any since then. He glanced out the window; they seemed to be under thick tree-cover. Alright, break was over. Time to get up, he told himself as he groaned and leveled himself up to a sitting position on a bench, using it to steady himself as he stood up and pulled two medium sized backpacks down from the netting, they hadn't been shaken loose in the crash. He quickly let his gaze dart around the jumper floor until he found the case labeled food and water. Popping that he packed two gallon jugs full of water into each bag followed by six MRE's for each of them and a few handfuls of extra powerbars into his own.

"So what, you're going to take all the supplies and leave me here?"

McKay responded to Kessler's inquiry without turning to face him, "Some of the supplies. I'll leave you your bit too."

"You really think that you can get out of here without me? I'm trained in wilderness survival; the most nature you've probably seen is the ocean outside your lab window."

"Did that training include how to get around on a broken leg? Because between Sora's shoulder and my ribs we aren't carrying you."

"Leaving me here is akin to murder. I thought you Lanteans with your code of ethics were above that."

"Eh, I'm a bit greyer in that area. Sure, that applies to friends, not so sure about a man who pulls a gun on me several times and takes a knife to me."

"And you plan to go where? From what I understand we're a long ways away."

"The Athosians have a settlement about twenty miles from here. Sora and I will go. As for you, you can do what you want. Drag yourself out of here and crawl into the woods if it pleases you, or wait and we'll maybe come back for you with help when we get there."

"That's if you get there. I don't put much faith in your chances."

McKay closed up the packs, having put some of the medical equipment in his. He turned to Kessler and shrugged, "That's your choice. But look at it this way; we're the only chance you have. So better start praying we get there or you will die out here."

"Fuck…" A groan came from next to McKay prompting him to look down at Sora as she opened her eyes and went to rub her injured arm lightly.

"Yeah, dislocated shoulders will do that. Unfortunately, we're going to have to get moving here in a few minutes. He pushed three tablets into her hand and set a water bottle next to her.

"What's this, poison to put me out of my misery?"

"Nothing so grim, painkillers. Not much, but they'll dull it a bit. You're gonna start hurting one we get moving. We both are."

She eyed him wearily but downed them two at a time before slumping back against the case she had ended up leaning up against when passing out.

Rodney scooted the case with the remaining water and food toward Kessler. "This is what you get to survive on. I trust you know how to ration it." He put the pair of hypodermics in the case as well, "This is morphine. It's a strong painkiller; each dose'll last six hours so only use them when it really starts to hurt." Tossing a bottle of aspirin into the case he commented, "Aspirin, a weaker painkiller. I'll leave you to bandage your own leg; I'm not feeling that much empathy for you at the moment. I'll leave you the rest of the medical case as well."

"That's your plan, to just leave me here and hope I can survive? Brilliant."

McKay shrugged again and went back to unlocking Sora's cuff that he had secured to the bench leg, "It's all we got thanks to you. If I remember correctly, I was innocently slumbering when you guys decided to start this mess."

Sora winced as he helped pull her to her feet and helped her sling the backpack over her good shoulder. He put his own on and scooped up his data pad with the map loaded onto the screen, taking one look back before the two headed out into the forest.

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	11. Pep Talks

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**Chapter 11 – Pep Talks**

Things had gone wrong, horribly wrong. He bucked against his restraints in convulsions as white foam leaked out of the edge of his mouth. Carson had leaned over the edge of the gurney and was throwing his full weight against the man's shoulders trying to hold him down as he writhed.

Sheppard's mouth opened a bit in horror and surprise. He had been standing off to the side to observe, but moved forward to try to help. One look from Carson immediately stopped him in his tracks. It was a look that said he had done enough in demanding that they go through with this risky procedure on the one person who might have any idea where Rodney was. He backed out of the way as the staff Carson had called in filed past him to rush to help with the Genii man.

He heard Carson's voice, thick with his Scottish accent shout out, "I need fifty milligrams of benzodiazepine!" The rest of the statement was lost on him as a blond nurse shut the door, silencing the commotion ringing out of the private room.

Damn, he really had hoped for the best here. He sat down on a bench outside the room, leaning forward to let his head fall into his hands before remembering that he wasn't alone. He abruptly sat up stiffly and nodded at the pair of guards that had been stationed at the door to guard their prisoner. There was something to be said with maintaining composure in front of his troops, him showing the wear and tear of a lengthy mission wouldn't go far towards keeping morale high.

He really had messed up here. Carson had told them the risks and he'd ploughed through. Would he do it again though if he had to make the choice again? He absent-mindedly played with the Velcro closure on a pouch of his tac vest. It was Rodney here. How many times had the brilliant man come to all of their rescue?

The next fifteen minutes passed in relative silence. He periodically interrupted the stagnant waiting with a call to the various teams that he was coordinating the search with. Zelenka had taken charge of the engineers; a few were working on that subroutine to keep the renegade jumper from obtaining access to the gate room. He put a call into Bates to see if the man could assign two teams for a search, he would lead a team himself with Ford. Teyla had headed back to the mainland with a small scouting party of Athosians to check on the condition of their settlement so she wasn't available to help or he would have had her along too.

His thoughts were interrupted as the doors opened and Carson came out, throwing his pair of latex gloves into a biohazardous waste container and walked over to stand in front of Sheppard, looking down at him with a haggard, if angry, gaze.

Sheppard was ready to own up, "Uh…How is he?"

Carson narrowed his gaze, "He's barely alive. He overloaded like I told ye he would."

"I, just wanted to say sorry…You were right."

"Damn right I was son. Ye and Elizabeth had no right to strong arm me like that."

"We didn't…It's just Rodney we're talking here. It was partially my fault the Kolya got him in the first place, and then I wasn't even paying attention enough to realize he was sick, and now…"

Carson sighed, the anger bleeding out of him as he slumped down on the bench next to Sheppard. There would be time to chastise the man for his pigheadedness later on, when he wasn't tying himself in knots worrying over Rodney, "I think he'll be ok. We've sedated him for now so his body can rest."

"So he'll be ok?"

"Aye, it'll be a few days before he's talkin,' but the lad'll recover."

"You think Rodney's ok?"

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried. I just got his results back from the lab; the strain of infection he got in that arm is a nasty bugger. It could cause some problems if we don't get him back soon."

Sheppard seemed to stiffen at this and Carson immediately set in trying to calm him down before he got worked up, settling a hand on his shoulder. To Carson's surprise, the man didn't shake him off, "Son, we're doin' all we can, all of us. Rodney's brought us all through worse scrapes than this; I've got to believe he could get himself through this until we find him. How are search plans progressing?"

Carson's inquiry worked, shaking the major out of his slump as the mask went back up and he was in charge again. Carson let a small smile play over his lips as he lowered his hand to his side and Sheppard jumped in, "Zelenka's calculated some hypothetical trajectories and has given us some coordinate routes to follow to maximize the amount of land we can cover-"

Beckett swallowed a lump in his throat and chimed in, "I want to go."

Sheppard met Carson with a confused gaze, and cocked an eyebrow, "You sure the exhaustion isn't getting to you? Because if I heard you right, you just asked to pilot a jumper. Normally you're ready to jump ship before going controlling anything Ancient."

A smile again crept over the man's face, "Like ye said, it's Rodney we're talkin' here. The man complains up a storm if anyone besides me dotes on his every need."

"Yeah, he certainly is something, isn't he?"

"Aye, when will we be leavin'?

"Oh, um," Sheppard looked toward the ceiling as he tried to recall the conversation he'd had with Bates. He'd told him a time, he thought? "An hour I guess? I don't know if I'm ready to put you behind the control of a jumper, there was that last time…"

"Gah! It was one time I almost blew up a chopper! Ye think ye'd have forgiven me for that by now the number of times I've patched ye back up."

"If I remember correctly, I was in the chopper…"

"Oh leave off harassin' me, I've got work to do!" Carson said, playfully pushing Sheppard and he went to get off and trudged back into his domain.

Smiling, quite possibly for the first time since he'd returned from Menara, Sheppard rose to his own feet and went off to finalize their plans.

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They'd been out for two hours and it was nearing dark. They had been conducting an aerial search over the mainland but hadn't spotted anything yet. There had been lots of storm damage – downed trees, flooded areas, but no sign of a jumper. He was almost resigning himself that they would have to resume the search in the morning as his radio chirped.

"_Major, this is Beckett. Ye there lad?"_

Sheppard tapped his radio to respond, all the while keeping his eyes on the land below. He was currently flying along the coastline on the thought that the jumper would have needed to touch down on cleared land, something that was much more difficult to find in the forested inner region of the continent. On the coastline, though, there were ample amounts of beachfront that would fit the description perfectly.

"_Sheppard here. What's up?"_

"We think we've found something. We're getting a blip on our longer-range sensors, it's not giving off any energy signature, but it's definitely not natural."

Sheppard sat up a little straighter at that, it was the first possibility they had found yet, "What does it look like?"

"_We're not there yet son; we're about five minutes out."_

"Send me the coordinates, we'll rendezvous there."

"_Uh…hang on a sec…these controls are so complicated. Wait, there…go back…no,"_

In the background on Beckett's end Sheppard heard someone curse and then a "_keep your eyes on flying this thing! I'll find the coordinates!"_

Sheppard rolled his eyes in amusement, wondering if Beckett would ever get the hang of the Ancient tech, he wouldn't bet on it, "Take it easy doc, I'll just find you on our sensors and meet you there. Are you in a wooded region?"

"_Yes. Some trees have been downed by the storm it looks like, but still a forest."_

"Ok, find a clear spot to land as close as you can get to the anomaly and I'll find you."

"_Major…there aren't really any areas that clear, maybe if we land on the beach…"_

"Doc, if Rodney's there you really want him having to wait for us?"

"_No, no. That wouldn't be good. You're right. Sorry if I put a few dents in this thing…"_

"Just do your best," Sheppard said as he locked on their coordinates on his console and turned the jumper in a tight arc toward their location, "I'll see you in a few, Sheppard out."

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As soon as the jumper touched down John leapt from his seat, snatched his life signs reader and P-90 from the bench, and chased Ford and his other marine out the hatch to meet up with Carson and his team.

His eyes were glued to the life signs reader as it flickered to life. He saw their six dots, and then began looking at the area around the edges of his screen for any more.

"There's only one son," Carson muttered quietly, "I already checked."

Sheppard didn't look up, demanding to see for himself, and his breath hitched when he saw that Carson was right.

"I wanted to go ahead," he said, leveling a stern gaze at his set of accompanying marines, "but your men seemed to have other ideas."

"Let's go, it looks like it crashed," he said, walking right past Carson and into the woods, "They took some trees down on the way in."

"That was my thought as well, major. We'll find him. If anyone was gonna be there it'd be Rodney. Maybe the Genii fled."

Sheppard didn't have the gall to say it aloud, but he thought it, either they had fled, or two of the three people that had left in that jumper were dead.

"Pick it up guys! That could be one of us in there!" he shouted back as he picked his pace up to a jog as they neared. He took a glance down at his detector to see if it maybe had picked up any weaker bio signs as they neared, but there was no change.

He could hear Carson readjusting his medical pack over his shoulder and breathing heavily as they closed the gap to the jumper, he could see it in between a few trees ahead. The hull was dented in places; one of the rear boosters had been knocked clean off and lay twenty feet away. But the thing that made his breath hitch was the tree branch through the front window, piercing the windshield, where Rodney would have been when he was flying.

"Carson, get up here! This doesn't look good," he threw the statement over his shoulder even as he closed the final yards between the jumper hatch and himself, skidding to a stop as he mounted the ramp.

There was a body on the floor, but it was too dark to identify it, he quickly charted a path around various cases that had split open in the back and kneeled by the person, gun tightly held in one hand even as he lowered a shaky hand to roll the body over. No, he corrected himself, person, not body, still alive, he berated himself. His eyes locked on the face as he rolled him over, only to raise the edge of his lip in disgust and frustration.

Carson had finally caught up and was moving to kneel next to the major, "Rodney?" he asked hopeful.

"Genii," Sheppard hissed.

Carson seemed to deflate noticeably at that, even though his movements didn't stop as he began assessing the unconscious man. Genii or not, he was still in need of a doctor, still his patient.

Sheppard moved away from them as Carson set to work, going to address the rest of his men, "Alright, split up in pairs. We're not seeing any more life signs," he said, pausing for a moment, "but that doesn't rule out that Rodney could be here. Start looking for bodies."

Carson winced at this; he hadn't expected his friend to be so brutally blunt about it. Although he supposed he couldn't blame the man, they'd all had their hopes raised only to have them killed again moments later.

They regrouped a bit later, having found more debris but no deceased. Sheppard stood outside the jumper and observed the scene inside. Beckett was assisting two marines in laying the injured Genii into a blanket that they would use to carry him back on, he still hadn't roused at all, and probably wouldn't be anytime soon as Beckett had topped him off on morphine for a broken leg.

Beckett took one more look at the man before leaving his side to talk to Sheppard. "He's stable, broken leg's his biggest issue that I see right now, but I'll know more once we get him back. We shouldn't delay any longer."

Sheppard sighed, "I was going to send you back and keep my team out to continue looking."

Beckett took his gaze off the marines as they gently raised his patient off the ground, he had told them to be careful. "Major, it's night, sensors are only good for so much and you won't be able to see anything."

"We still don't know where Rodney is! We still don't even know if he's alive!"

Beckett spoke firmly and confidently, hoping to work get through to the stubborn major, "Look at the way the window's smashed in, inwards. Rodney wouldn't have been thrown out of the jumper through the window, but backwards if anything. The hatch has been lowered meaning that someone left the jumper. He's out there, and we can start up first thing in the morning."

"We can't just leave him out there…" Sheppard muttered weakly, losing the sudden energy he had found, his second wind seemed to be finally fading.

"Ye need a good meal and a catnap yourself major, and so do your men and this man needs treatment. Tomorrow."

Sheppard didn't say anything for a moment, considering the points Beckett had made and looking over to his own tired-looking crew. "Ok," he said resigned, "back to Atlantis. But we're back out here first thing in the morning."

"Aye, that'll be fine."

No more words passed aloud as the team silently headed back to their jumpers, loaded off, and flew back toward the city. As the mainland faded from sight below, Sheppard said a silent prayer that his friend was alright and would be until morning.

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	12. Unlikely Allies

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**Chapter 12 – Unlikely Allies**

Rodney walked with Sora in front of him, gun held loosely in one hand and pointed at the ground, swinging forward and back with the motion of his arm as he walked. His other arm, injured as it was, had gradually crept closer to his chest, serving to cradle his injured ribs.

Sora hadn't been very talkative during their march. He didn't know whether to chalk it up to her pain or the fact that the two of them were enemies. Different people, different planets, different methods for fighting the wraith. He'd tried to make polite conversation when they'd first started; talking about the latest fubars his scientists had managed in the labs, really anything to break the monotony. He had caught himself as he had begun to drift into thinking out loud about what the rest of the team was up to. That somehow…just seemed a bit too personal. Teyla and John, hell, even Carson when he wasn't chasing after McKay about losing some weight or giving a blood sample, they were what passed as his family here…and it didn't seem right to be sharing that part of his life with this total stranger, who had twice taken him captive.

"I…uh…I know we aren't best pals, but you doing ok? The pair of us are kind of stuck in this together."

She kept walking but threw a look over her shoulder for the first time in awhile, eyeing the gun in his hand, "I'm fine."

"Oh…that's good, I guess…" He himself was starting to feel everything catching up to him again. If he were here with his team, he would complain up a storm. They didn't hold it against him, and hell, he was entitled to a little complaining now and again considering how much he did for the expedition. Again, this was just a strange situation, awkward didn't do it justice. And he wasn't sure he wanted her to know how tired he was getting, how everything was wearing on him. Because she might just decide it was within her ability to jump him when he wasn't paying attention. He thought back to all the times Teyla had beat him good with her sticks during their practice sessions, as if he would ever really get any better at them, he was at home in front of a computer, but Teyla still persisted in insisting on the sessions. He'd learned how to hold the stick, maybe how to stand sideways to minimize himself as a target, but he somehow imagined that if it came down to a fight with Sora, he would be at a sore disadvantage, best keep her in the dark about how much his ribs and arm were burning.

"Uh, I think we should stop here for the night. We have some tree cover and there's that stream we just passed where we can refill our water."

She didn't disagree, but turned around in a circle, examining their surroundings. She heard the running water in the background. Looking up, she couldn't see much of the sky above, catching just brief flashes of red and yellow between the leafy branches as the sun set overhead.

"Are there any predators to worry about here?" If it came down to defending this site against any large animals they would be at a disadvantage in their physical conditions to start with, not to mention that the area didn't have many natural obstacles they could use as fortifications.

"There's some squirrel like creatures…and birds…really annoying birds. No predators though."

"Then I suppose here will do," she said in a monotone voice that was driving McKay nuts. He had no idea whether she was pissed off, plotting his murder, or simply too apathetic to care at this point.

"We need to gather some firewood then; I can get that started once we do that…Any other suggestions?"

"We have food and water?"

"Yeah, enough for a few days at least. Yours is in your pack," he said, gingerly shrugging his off each shoulder and lowering it to the ground. He placed his data pad on top of that.

"Then no, a fire is the only recommendation I would make also."

"Ok, firewood then. Wanna ditch your pack? I'd imagine it's killing your shoulder," he said, rubbing next to his neck where the backpack straps had been digging in for the past few hours.

Again, no response but she did let her own pack fall to the ground about ten feet away where she was staying. He nodded approvingly as he pointed with his gun, the weight still foreign in his hand; he wasn't used to ordering other people about, or taking prisoners, "This way then, to start. I tripped over enough stupid sticks to say that there should be a lot in the area, it shouldn't take too long."

She shrugged and started off in the direction he had pointed. He had the gun; there wasn't much use in arguing. McKay followed as she took the lead, sticking the gun through his belt so both arms could be used for gathering firewood. Both began picking up sticks here and there as they wandered in a loose circle around their chosen camping site, McKay not wanting to lose track of the location of their gear. Sora wasn't able to gather too much, with one usable arm, so McKay tried to gather more despite the fact that his arm was killing him and his ribs weren't too happy at the repeated bending over and straightening up.

Eventually he got into the rhythm of squatting down and picking the sticks up, enabling him to keep his back straight and avoid the extra pressure on his ribs. He bent down for one last stick to add to his bundle, then rising and calling out, "Ok, this is enough to start, you ready to head back?"

He looked left and right, it was hard to make anything out in the fading light. "Sora?"

Still no answer…"SORA!"

Silence…Fuck. He dropped his firewood and picked up his pace, walking a little bit further out in the direction they had been heading, calling out a few more times only to receive no answer.

"Great McKay, lose your prisoner and your only help! You're off to a great start on your maiden kidnapping venture," he muttered to himself, running a hand through his hair as he spun in a circle, looking for any hint as to where she might have gone.

A sudden thought hit him and his walk turned into an awkward run as he turned on his heel to head back to their camp. He wasn't far and made it there in a few minutes. There was a pack missing, all the evidence he needed that Sora was done. He slowed his pace as he approached his own pack, only to have his eyes go wide as he noticed the absence of his data pad, the data pad he had been using to navigate their way back to the Athosian settlement. "McKay, you idiot! Now what, huh? Go gather some firewood, sure, great idea, even better to let her get out of your sight."

His chest heaved as he struggled to fill his lungs with oxygen, his ribs announcing their protest with each breath he took. He sat down on the ground, leaning up against his pack, "Now what?"

Ok, she had left his pack; he still had food and water, medical supplies, flashlight, and the other few miscellaneous items he had thrown into his pack. Leaving his pack suggested she didn't bear him too much ill will, she could have taken everything. Or maybe not with that shoulder…either way, he took it as a blessing. He still had some gear, just no way to navigate back to the village...

"Ok, that's tomorrow's concern. For now, let's do a fire, a meal, and sleep," he muttered to himself again, counting his task list out on his fingers as he went, "and I'm going nuts, talking to myself out here. God, I hate camping! Hear that woods? Nature sucks!" Shaking his head, he rolled over onto his hands and knees and then pushed himself up to a standing position as he headed out into the woods to retrieve his firewood.

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Sora sat slumped down against the base of a tree, fiddling with the mechanical device McKay had been using to navigate their way toward the Athosian village. He had shown her the map with the blue dot representing their destination, and a red one where McKay had plotted the location of the jumper, and her companion, Kessler.

She hadn't decided for sure whether she wanted to go back and make plans with Kessler or go forward to the village. Either way, she couldn't stay out here forever. Or rather, she could, but that wouldn't accomplish anything. The first thing she needed to do, though, was to get this confounded device working! She let out a groan of frustration; she had already tried most of the external buttons first. After finding it had a screen that responded to her touch she had gotten a little further before hitting a standstill. She'd found a screen that kept prompting for a password. Trust the plucky, whiny scientist to cause even more problems.

She'd already been at it for an hour, and was keenly aware that there was no chance of her guessing a correct password of all of the infinite possibilities. Setting the tablet down, she leaned back completely against the tree, angling her body slightly to take the weight off her shoulder as she tried to replay the trip through her mind. They'd left the jumper and headed roughly west, she had been able to tell that much from occasionally listening in on McKay's endless ramblings. They'd headed west; there'd been lots of woods…and…what else?!? She rubbed at her temple with her good hand trying to recall, Kolya would have her hide had he been there to witness her inability to recall almost any concrete details, he had pressed them to pick landmarks just in case something like this were to happen, and here she had failed even in that most basic lesson. Her shoulder had just hurt so much; she'd been focused on that for most of the trip. McKay had just shouted at her when he wanted to change directions.

Still making no headway on deciding where to go, and more importantly, how to get there, Sora distracted herself by rooting through the contents of her pack. A few meals and some water, that was it. McKay had hoarded the rest for himself, the selfish man. She beat her head against the tree trunk a few times, lightly, trying to come up to any solution, any step she could take to get her out of this.

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McKay carried a pile of branches toward his fire and the small pile of wood he already had there to keep the flames going through the night. Atlantis might be mostly tropical, but that didn't mean it didn't get a little chilly, he thought, zipping his jacket up all the way was the next order of business once he got a few more branches on the fire.

Momentarily distracted, he wasn't paying attention to what he was doing as his foot tangled in the strap of his pack and he tumbled forward. His sticks went flying as he tried to put out an arm to catch himself, but in his already tired state he didn't move fast enough as he landed on the ground face first, his ribs jarring from the impact as he let out a loud yelp, pain starting in his chest and racing out to every nerve in his body in just a moment. It was paralyzing, mind consuming, he immediately rolled onto his side and curled up, gently kneading his shaky hand against his ribs, anything to steady the pain. He felt tears beading in his eyes as he took tiny, tiny breaths in and out, not wanting to pain his ribs any further.

And then he heard a twig snap from somewhere behind him, out in the darkness beyond the light of his fire. "There's no predators out here McKay, the Athosians have lived here for months with no encounters…calm down, just calm down."

And then leaves rustled and he knew it wasn't his imagination. With a grimace he pulled the gun from his belt and rolled over to face the noise, "Stay the fuck away."

Sora stood at the edge of the camp, not moving a muscle as the panicked McKay leveled a gun at her chest.

"What…the hell do you want? You haven't done enough yet? What, break my computer and come back to do some more damage?"

She held her arms out in front of her, the tablet held out toward him as she stayed very still, as she spoke very slowly, not wanting to spook the scientist into any rash actions, "It's right here. I'm bringing it back."

He looked at her for a moment, eyes focusing in on the data pad before he curled up a little tighter and let out a pained sigh, "Sure. Like something would actually go right in this disaster. You wanted to go, just leave me alone."

"I tried, I can't get this thing to work," she said, holding the tablet up a little higher.

"Well…duh. You're people are twenty years from creating anything as advanced as that…"

She shook her head, even in a moment like this he couldn't resist a jab, "Look, you need help," she said, motioning to his figure, "and I need you," she wanted to add in the word unfortunately there at the end, but she didn't need to dig herself a digger hold than she was already in.

He pulled a hand away from his chest, wincing as he did so, god it hurt. "Ok…maybe…put my data pad down….before you do break it."

She nodded and moved very slowly, putting it down on the ground and pushing it forward with her boot.

"I said put it down, not kick it!" Rodney said, a little energy finally returning to him as he rose to a sitting position, then to his knees as he crawled over to where Sora was at to collect the tablet and satisfy himself that she hadn't caused any permanent damage to it. She backed off as he approached, it was clear he didn't trust her, gun still in his hand as he moved.

Sora was glad to see a little color return to the scientist's complexion, even if it had cost her getting yelled at. Let him be pissed, she needed him conscious and focused to get them somewhere…anywhere out of here.

"And stay over there! This is my side of camp," he said, motioning to his pile of firewood and the pile of leaves he had put together into a rough sleeping pad, anything was better than hard dirt. He shakily rose to his feet and moved back over to the other side of the fire before collapsing back to the ground and adopting an Indian style sitting position.

Sora took that as a dismissal as he slipped her own pack off her uninjured shoulder and went to pull out a meal to eat. There was a fire, she thought, may as well take advantage of getting a hot meal if she could warm it up. She pulled an MRE and a water jug out of her bag, pushing the ready-made meal closer to the fire with a spare stick to warm up. She moved herself a little closer to the fire as well, happy to have light to see by and provide warmth, and hell, even the human companionship was nice, even in the form of the grumpy companion she had fallen in with.

As she rubbed her hands together to heat them up, she watched the scientist struggle on the opposite side of the fire. He still hadn't relinquished the gun, having laid it on the ground within reaching distance, but he had taken off his tactile vest, jacket, and t-shirt. Stripped down to the waist he was trying, and failing, to wrap some bandages around his bruised torso. He'd wrapped them too loosely and couldn't secure them properly with only one good hand.

"You want help?"

Rodney paused in his administrations, "help would be nice, but help from you? No."

She frowned a bit at this, but didn't let that stop her, "You've messed those all up. They won't provide you're busted ribs with any support."

"Well, then they won't. But you're not coming close enough to jump me. I'll take my chances," he said, still bitter over the fact that she had abandoned him, broken the little trust he had placed in her. He went back to fumbling with them himself.

She watched him for another five minutes before he let out a frustrated groan and pulled the bandages off quickly and letting them fall to a messy heap to his right. "How about now?" she asked him quietly, less confrontational. "You'll not be much use tomorrow if you leave them open like that. You'll be sore enough from what you've done with them today."

He looked at her quizzically, thinking, weighing his options, before giving the slightest nod of his head, "Fine, come over here. But I'm holding the gun. Better not try anything."

She slowly rose to her own feet, walking over and settling on the ground behind him. She grabbed the discarded bandages in her one available hand, starting low on his waist and laying the first layer against his skin, watching him visibly flinch as she did so. She passed the bundle around front to him, where he then passed it in front of his torso and back around to her. They did a few awkward loops around his torso before getting the hang of it and once she had a few wraps done she began pulling them tighter, watching his torso contract with each pull.

"That hurts!"

"It's not gonna do anything if it's not tight. Better hurt a bit down and feel better for the rest of our time out here than vice versa."

He didn't have an angry retort to that, perhaps seeing the logic to her actions. They continued on in this manner until his ribs were wrapped and she tied off the bandage at the top of his torso. The two then resigned to sit there in silence, the Genii soldier and the scientist of Atlantis remained unmoving as the shadows cast by the fire danced over their faces.

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	13. We are Weary

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**Chapter 13 – We are Weary**

"Rodney," he heard from afar. McKay opened his eyes halfway, only to curl into a tighter ball and ignore the annoyance. He hadn't slept nearly enough last night, his various aches and pains refusing to abate enough for him to get a decent night's sleep.

"Rodney! Let's get going," he rolled onto his back with a groan, looking up to the sky for a hint at what time it was. The sun wasn't overhead yet, but it was well past dawn. He lazily rolled his head sideways, observing that the fire had dwindled down to cooled ash, not even glowing embers. Maybe it had been longer than he thought.

"It's about time! I've been calling your name for five minutes. Come over here and let me up, I need to go to the bathroom"

He mumbled a curse under his breath, closing his eyes again as he contemplated dozing for a few more minutes. He really wasn't in the mood to get up, "I would hope by this age you would be capable to do that without my help."

His eyes jerked back open as something hit his leg, finally rousing him enough to begrudgingly sit up to eye Sora with an angry glare. She had a stick in her hand, armed cocked back to loosen it in his direction if the last projectile hadn't woken him up. "That would be a little easier if you hadn't tethered me to this tree last night," she said, motioning to the rope he had tied around her boot on one end and around the trunk of a tree on the other.

Oh yeah. He had done that to make sure she didn't run off again, hadn't he? He supposed she might have had cause to wake him up. She'd initially protested it, but he'd made a point of suggesting that if she wanted to go with him then he would play by his rules. She'd run off the last time he'd given her a bit of freedom. It had taken him a few minutes to come up with a way of securing her; handcuffs were out since one of her arms was bundled up against her arm due to the shoulder dislocation. He'd eventually settled on a rope tied around one of her ankles and then to a tree with a knot that she wouldn't be able to get loose with just one hand the way he tied it. He may have dropped out of boy scouts a year in, deciding that carving wood and camping wasn't his thing, but he had learned a few handy knots in his time participating. He'd given her a dose of morphine which eased her into a semblance of sleep, so he hadn't really had to worry about her waking up. Mid-night she had begun tossing and whimpering, sleeping on the ground not the best suggestion for a person with a dislocated shoulder. With the first dose wearing off, he had given her one more to get her through the night.

Now she was apparently awake enough to be yelling and throwing things at him. He shook his head but went over and untied her. She stretched a bit before rolling onto her knees and rising to her feet.

"Well, since you don't trust me and all, planning on following me out into the woods while I pee?"

"N-No! That's disgusting. Just go, and don't go far. Just remember I have the packs here, run off and I doubt you'll get far without the supplies."

"If you'll remember, I came back, didn't I?"

"Yeah, only because you couldn't figure out how to use my data pad. Should've known better than to mess with technology beyond your ability to comprehend."

She didn't say anything, used to his snappy retorts by now. Ignoring him, she walked off into the woods, McKay watching her go as he rolled his eyes. After she was out of sight, he moved over to his own pack and sat down next to it. He needed a few moments to himself anyways. He was having difficulty breathing, more so than yesterday. Yesterday he had adopted the habit of breathing shallowly to prevent putting undue pressure on his ribs, today he couldn't take a deeper breath even if he wanted to, and he could tell that there was mucus in his lungs. Putting that together with the fact that he was sweating profusely despite the fact that it was still pretty chilly this early in the morning. He carefully peeled the bandage back off his injured arm to take a look at the wound. There was a green discharge around the edges and from the wound down through his hand was swollen, he flexed his hand a few times to notice that his grip in that hand wasn't strong.

He shook his head, thinking back to when Carson had told him he had an infection. He hadn't thought much of it, putting more of his worry toward the aftermath of the crash, keeping Sora in check, navigating, and his perpetually protesting ribs. His arm hadn't been too bad up till now. Either way, he knew this wasn't good. He popped a few of the antibiotic tabs into his mouth and then cleaned and rewrapped the wound as he heard the crunch of boots on ground and Sora came back into view.

"Done?" he asked.

"I am coming back, aren't I, so yes."

"Alright, let's get moving then. The fire's already out, so just let me pack my stuff up and we'll go."

"I wanted to eat…"

"Oh yeah. Food is probably a good idea," he really wasn't on target today, he thought as he pulled a few power bars out of his own bag. He didn't really have the appetite for a full meal. He opened two of them and began slowly nibbling on one as he watched Sora break into an MRE.

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They all looked a bit rough around the edges, Elizabeth thought as he looked at her expedition members sitting around the conference table. She didn't know if sitting was the right word, they might be in chairs, but Sheppard and Beckett were half slipping out of theirs and Zelenka had an elbow on the table, chin resting in his hand as he scrolled through something on his tablet, eyes fixed on the screen. She finally decided to break the silence, Sheppard finally having completely their group after walking in a few seconds ago and plopping down into a chair.

"Ok, Beckett, why don't you start. How are your Genii patients?"

He looked up from the cup of coffee that he had been sloshing around in its metal mug, "The one we brought back is still unconscious, he got out of surgery a few hours ago for setting his leg and hasn't woken up yet."

She nodded a bit, that much she had expected. She didn't really want to ask her next question, but it was necessary, "What about the other one, last I heard he was in an induced coma?"

He sighed, "Aye, I told ye, there were too many risks pushing him with a stimulant. He's not ready for us to wake up yet. His body is still trying to right itself. Probably tomorrow at the earliest," he said, this time looking directly at Elizabeth. He'd already had several words with her in private about how unethical their conduct had been in demanding that do that. He'd especially reamed her considering that nothing had been gained for it, but she still lowered her gaze to a sudden spot on the table that she found interesting as he gave her an accusatory look. No, the sting from the whole incident hadn't worn off yet. Carson wasn't about to let it go until the man was awake and he could ensure that no permanent damage had been done.

Seeing as Beckett and Weir seemed to be having a silent disagreement, no one saying anything for several seconds Sheppard quickly cut in, "How about we move onto the matter of one missing Rodney McKay? I'm prepared to begin scouting from the crash site outwards looking for any sign of him."

"Wouldn't jumpers be more efficient?" Elizabeth asked, finally getting her head back into the meeting and participating again.

Zelenka took that as his cue to enter the conversation as he stopped slumping and sat up straighter, "No, not for a search like this. The jumper's sensors are good for searching for large objects, and yes, could identify a life sign if it was isolated. But there are a few larger animal species, deer-like animals, which would register false positives in our search."

"Foot search it is then, I suppose," Elizabeth said, "Do you have a strategy in place?"

Sheppard folded his hands on the table, "I'm going to take about fifteen men to the site and we'll fan out in different directions from there. Rodney wasn't in shape to begin with; and shouldn't be moving too fast, we should catch up with him eventually."

"Have you picked your men?"

"Yeah, Ford and myself, of course. Teyla's still on the mainland with some of the Athosians. Probably a medic or two, and then ten other marines who've had a bit of time to rest since returning from Menara."

"Beckett's not going?"

Carson sighed. He wanted to go, he was worried for Rodney's condition after this long out in the forest, especially considering the man had been undergoing medical treatment when he was forcibly taken out of the infirmary, but with one man in an induced coma and another one with a severely broken leg who would need to have his condition continuously monitored, he felt it would be irresponsible to go out with the search party again. If they didn't find Rodney today, the only clue they may have to the man's location could be locked away in one of his patients' heads. "Aye, I have two critical patients to watch now. I've also been gone quite a bit, between the concussion and the search yesterday. I've some administrative tasks to tend to."

"You think medics will be ok?"

He leaned forward a bit, "I've already arranged a medical pack with any supplies I think Rodney might need and it's sitting on my desk. I'll be in radio contact with the control room continuously. When they find him I'll snag my bag and be on the next jumper out that way."

"Alright, if you two are in agreement then I'll give this the green light."

Sheppard nodded and then spoke again, "Speaking of Teyla, I haven't heard from her at all, I just know she's still out there. Any word on the condition of the Athosian settlement?"

Elizabeth rubbed at the back of her head, "They've catalogued most of the damage. About a fourth of their crop fields are flooded so it's going to be pertinent to negotiate more trade agreements offworld to make up for that lost food. Their homes were on higher ground so they didn't flood, but there are some trees that got knocked over that will have to be cleared and several of their buildings took wind damage."

"So will the Athosians be staying here with us again for awhile?"

"I don't expect that to be the case, several parties of Athosians have been ferried out there to start repair work and we've lent them a staffed jumper to help them lift some of the downed trees."

"What about the people whose homes were damaged?"

"The other Athosians have opened their homes to those families until their own houses can be repaired. They all seem anxious to return to the mainland. That's all I've heard myself so far. When are you planning on taking your search parties out today?"

"Everyone else should have reported to the bay by now, so as soon as we're done here."

Elizabeth watched John's eyes track toward the door, he was obviously anxious to get out there.

"Then go. Keep us updated."

With a quick appreciative nod Sheppard was out of his chair and through the door.

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	14. Trust Thy Enemy

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**Chapter 14 – Trust Thy Enemy**

Rodney put a shaky hand against a tree as he bent over wracked with another round of hacking coughs. In between coughs he hissed in pain, his ribs objecting to the quick movements wracking his torso. He remained in that position for a little under a minute, Sora standing back and watching him from a distance.

"Why don't we break for lunch? You aren't looking so good."

"I'm-" his statement was interrupted by one last hack before he could finish, "-fine."

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow; he hadn't been ok since they had left camp much earlier in the day. Their pace had slowed considerably compared to yesterday, his eyes looked glassy and he hadn't been his usual chatty self.

"It doesn't help me if you keel over before we get to where ever you are leading us."

He looked up at her with an unfocused gaze as he tried to recover his breath but his defensive stance had altered a little to one of resignation, the hunch in his shoulders betraying either exhaustion, pain, or a mixture of the two.

"Fine. A quick lunch." The fact that his sentences had become much abbreviated in the last few hours didn't escape her observation either. Having already set her pack on the ground to give her shoulder a break while he was recovering from his coughing fit, she flipped it open and drew out a water jug and an MRE.

McKay slid down the base of the tree he had been using for support to settle into a posture somewhere between laying and sitting as he pulled open his own pack with a shaky hand and began rifling through the contents. Hand closing around another power bar he drew it out and set it on his lap, not eating, just looking at it instead.

"Planning on eating?" she said as she scooped a forkful of the dried rations.

"Haven't decided yet. Don't have much of an appetite really."

"You didn't eat a real meal this morning either, just one of those bar things."

"I've survived a lot longer than a day on these things," he said, finally picking up the bar and peeling back the wrapper. He knew that he would be on the brink of a hypoglycemic attack if he didn't eat something.

Watching him nibble on the edge of the bar held in unstable hands, she realized how easy it would be to simply go over and pluck the gun off the man and reverse their roles again. The thought had been on her mind since soon after they had broken camp that morning. He was stopping them every few minutes to let him catch his breath; she could probably take him even with only one good arm available to her. The thought had been nagging at her for awhile now, if Kolya had been here they would have overtaken McKay the moment he started going downhill, that would have been hours ago. She could force McKay to take her to the village, use him as a hostage to demand passage for her and Kessler offworld. So why hadn't she?

"What about those painkillers you brought? They helped me last night."

"Can't-"

"Even if they make you sleepy or whatever, you're already there, it's not like you could get much worse."

"I gave you the last of it we had…" he said between small bites. Three bites in he put the bar down, he really wasn't in the mood.

She cocked her head at this, "I thought you brought four vials?"

"We did…but two broke in my pack. I don't know how it happened."

"You didn't save yourself any?"

"You…were in more pain than I was."

Her brow scrunched as she considered this. It seemed entirely illogical that this man, who she considered pigheaded, whiny, and selfish, would do that. And yet he had, he had put her ahead of himself and was now suffering for it. How was she supposed to respond to that? All of a sudden she broke her gaze with him, almost too ashamed to look at him. Here she had been pondering ways to take McKay out when he had actually shown her…_kindness._ He was about to call him stupid for wasting it all on her in one night, but truthfully, she probably would've gotten no sleep without it.

She played with her food in its plastic container as she pondered all of this before finally looking back up to see McKay wheezing again after choking down some water. "…Thank you Rodney."

"Don't thank me, I'm regretting it now. I should have saved some for myself," he looked away himself this time, his cheeks red with embarrassment. He wasn't used to being thanked, he usually wasn't all that gracious, he knew that. But he had a lot of delicate needs that needed tending to or it messed his system up. Everyone thought he was selfish, but that didn't mean he couldn't empathize with another person in pain, even if that person had indirectly caused his current predicament. He didn't want her to suffer, but being thanked was a foreign concept to McKay. God, maybe he was getting too soft.

Her lips curved upwards at this, another stupid retort to throw attention away from him when he was doing something nice, for all the attention that the man demanded, the praise he wanted for his successes, it was peculiar to her that he would try to shy away from it now, in a cute awkward way.

Her smile flattened back out into a neutral expression as she continued to watch McKay. He was starting to teeter slightly to the side and still hadn't eaten much.

"Why don't we take a break for a few more minutes, let you get your bearings?"

"Yeah…sounds nice."

Not exactly the enthusiastic response she had been hoping for, anything would be ok if it meant he was showing a little liveliness. "How far are we from the Athosian settlement?"

He stared upward for a minute, as if puzzling over this rather simple question, "Let me check…" He pulled his data pad out and pressed the screen a few times and he spent a few more seconds looking at it before responding again, "About a mile and a half."

"And some of your people will be there?"

"They…the Athosians wanted to check their settlement…Teyla should be there with them."

She curled her lip into a sneer at the mention of that name. "_Teyla_ will be there?"

"Look…she didn't kill your dad…"

"That was not the story I heard," she said, her voice gaining in volume and viciousness, "She left my father to die at the hands of the wraith! How is that not equitable to murder?"

"She-she tried to save him. But he fired his gun and that brought the wraith."

"She should have saved him! He was the only family I had…and now he's gone…What do I have now? A dead military unit, no family, and I'll probably never get back to Genii when we return to your people!"

He stared at her for a moment before responding, his voice never raising to meet hers in ferocity, instead staying quiet, exhausted, barely above a whisper, "We all lose people, we've all lost people in this galaxy at the hands of the wraith. If we start fighting amongst ourselves instead of focusing on them, then we may as well hand the victory to those life-suckers because we won't stand a chance."

She frowned, "And who are you to judge my loss? You have friends…"

He looked at her with a haggard expression, "One of my scientists, my responsibility, we were visiting a crashed hive ship…there was one wraith left. It fed on him…"

Her expression softened a bit at this, "It killed him?"

Rodney's expression became distant at that, "No, drained him almost all the way…but not quite. He, shot himself so that I would leave him and escape."

She didn't know how to respond to that, perhaps the Lanteans did have a bit more honor than she had been told, than she had thought. "He was your friend?"

"He…was a colleague, and yes, a friend."

"I'm sorry."

"Not yours to apologize for. You didn't kill him, just as Teyla didn't kill your father. The wraith did."

"I-I can't just forget about it! He…was all I had left."

"Then don't forget, fight so that it may not happen again."

"Fight who? You're saying it was an unfortunate mistake, unavoidable, who do I fight McKay, if not Teyla?"

He answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, firmly and confident for the first time that day, "The wraith."

"My people do fight the wraith-"

"And you also insist upon fighting us."

"You're people deceived us! You stole the wraith device my father died for!"

"After your people lied about your technological advancement and tried to seize it from us."

"…Perhaps we were both at fault in that…"

"Yes"

"But Teyla was partially responsible for my father's death and I cannot forget that so simply."

"She was sorry…she wanted to help him, but there were too many wraith."

"She never accepted responsibility!"

"She cried for him…"

She narrowed her gaze in confusion, "What are you talking about?"

"After…back on Atlantis. That night, she blamed herself…she cried for his loss."

"I-I don't believe that. She's stone-hearted."

"No, she is compassionate, and she was sorry for his loss…"

Rodney's responses were growing shorter again, with longer lags between statements, suggesting the short burst of energy he had found was fading. Sora took note of this and wanted to get them moving again before he became too tired to do so. She also needed time to process this information and needed a distraction; getting moving again would give her the time she needed to think.

"We should depart, we're close."

Rodney opened his eyes and looked up at her, "You go."

"Go where?"

"To the village…"

"If you're trying to play the self-sacrificing role, cut the bullshit now. We're both going."

"No, I'm barely staying awake. Go, bring help back."

Her eyes opened wide at this, she didn't feel comfortable leaving Rodney alone in the state he was in, and she didn't trust herself to navigate using that stupid tablet on her own. Rodney was right in that it was beyond her tech skills.

"You're people will capture me on sight. How will I help you then? You will die out here!"

"They will listen…"

"Yeah, sure, they'll listen to the enemy soldier who invaded your city, killed your men, and kidnapped you!"

"You didn't kill anyone…you argued against Kolya, I heard you. And they will trust you."

"Why would they trust me?"

He leveled a stern gaze at her, "Because they don't have a choice. It's you or nothing, they've probably been scouring the planet for us, but it's a big place and we're just two people."

She opened her mouth to rebut him again, but couldn't come up with any response. Rodney had told her that they were about a mile and a half away. That unit of measurement meaning nothing to her, he estimated it was about a thirty minute walk at most. Assuming that the Athosians actually listened to her, she should be able to bring help back within an hour.

"Ok. How do I go?"

"Here," he said, holding the tablet out in her direction.

She approached him and knelt down next to where he was reclining against the tree. "How does it work?"

"I've put my password in, so the map will be up as you go. You're the blinking white dot, that's your location. Blue dot is where you're going. Our current location is the green dot; follow it back to here when you bring them back. If you're dot gets further from the one you're aiming for, you're going the wrong way…not too sophisticated…"

She nodded in understanding, it wasn't complicated at all. She just hadn't been able to get pass the password the first time she had stolen it and tried this. She stood up, moving back over to her pack to pick it up. She put the tablet on the ground for a moment as she gently shouldered her pack, now much lighter as she had consumed much of the rations it had held. Bending back down to pick up the tablet off the ground she brushed off the bits of mud that clung to the bottom and then threw one more look at McKay. He hadn't moved an inch from his previous position, "You'll be ok?"

"I'm not going anywhere…go."

They had been backed into a corner and this was the only option they had left available, so she leveled a solemn nod in his direction and headed toward the woods.

McKay watched her fade into the brush before allowing his head to drop back against the tree. He raised the powerbar into his field of view and frowned. He wasn't hungry, but also knew that the dizziness he was feeling was partially a result of not eating enough to keep his sugar up. He choked one full powerbar down before dropping the wrapper onto the ground next to him. "Alright, just wait McKay, we can do this," he said to himself as he looked around his surroundings, he was alone. "Yeah," he said, sighing, "I hope we can do this."

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Sora had jogged most of the way, following the little blinking dots on the live-time map Rodney had provided her with. Her jogging was a little awkward with only one hand available to balance her movements as she ran. She'd been replaying the events of the past few days in her head. Up until now, the Lanteans had been the second greatest evil in this galaxy after the wraith. But all a sudden that distinction had been heavily blurred and she wasn't sure where she stood. Yes, the Lanteans had killed some Genii during the invasion, but the Genii had also killed some of their men. Rodney was right that the real enemy had to be the wraith here…but what did she do from here on out? First step was to get Rodney some help and somehow convince the Athosians to help her. She still hadn't come up with a way to approach them and request assistance in a way that wouldn't get her shot at, stunned, or taken captive before she could explain the situation.

And then there was Teyla…was Rodney telling the truth? Had she been truly sorry? She had always harbored the smallest question in the back of her mind about what really had transpired. The Genii men that had been there said Teyla was responsible, Teyla claimed she had tried to help. Or was it really as McKay put it, an unfortunate coincidence? And even if it was, didn't someone have to be responsible? Didn't there have to be someone she could challenge to avenge her father? It wasn't in her blood, in her Genii blood, to simply forget and continue on as if nothing had passed. Her father had passed, he was gone.

She lost her train of thought as she glanced down at Rodney's tablet and noticed that her dot was on top of the blue one. This was supposed to be it. She saw a break in the tree line ahead, suggesting a clearing, and slowed her pace to a slow walk as she approached, beginning to duck behind tree and underbrush as she approached, wanting to see them before they saw her. She wanted to know how many men she was going to be dealing with, whether there were any Lanteans, and what weapons were in play. All of these factors would affect that manner in which she chose to approach.

Crouching down behind some tall grass growing on the edge of the meadow, she peeked her head just high enough to see the clearing. A first glance suggested no one was present and she began worrying that she was in the wrong location. But a second later she heard voices. She didn't know whether to be relieved or concerned. Rodney needed help, but at the same time she would be putting herself back at the mercy of the people who had held her captive. A few more moments of watching revealed that this must be crop field and a team of Athosians were currently attaching chains around a tree that lay on the opposite edge of the clearing. A jumper was landed on the ground nearby with a crew of a few marines lounging on the lowered hatch, weapons hanging loosely from the front of their tactile vests as they alternated between watching the surroundings and watching the Athosians work as they waited for them to finish attaching the chains to the tree. They would then attach those to the jumper and lift the tree out of the meadow. She saw a woman dressed like in the black army fatigues favored by the offworld teams was working among the Athosians handling the chains. Teyla.

She took a deep breath, every moment was one more moment that Rodney waited and potentially got worse. She slipped the data pad into her pack, not wanting to appear with anything in her hands that could be mistaken as a weapon. She closed her eyes for just a moment, steeling herself, and then stepped out from her hiding spot, her one loose arm raised in the air as she called out in the direction of the Athosians, "Athosians and Lanteans!"

The rhythmic pace that they had settled into shattered as the workers froze in place to look in the direction of the voice. As the Athosians stopped, the soldiers snapped into action, immediately on their feet and pointing their weapons at the stranger in their midst.

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	15. Bring Him Home

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**Chapter 15 – Bring Him Home**

"Hands in the air and don't move!"

Sora heeded their warning, remaining exactly as she was as a contingent of four marines ran in her direction with Teyla at their head.

The others may not have recognized her but a frown immediately came over Teyla's face as she eyed the brilliant red hair from afar, only one person that she knew had that hair and she wasn't an ally. Sora. Her brow creased as her fingers tightened around her gun. If she was here, where was Rodney? While she had opted to stay with her people during their repairs to the city, Sheppard had been updating her every few hours on the search for Rodney. Last she had heard they had found the crash site, found another Genii, and were out searching as they spoke. Only Rodney and Sora were unaccounted for.

She tightened her grip around on her P-90 as they neared. Sora locked eyes with Teyla as she approached, ignoring the marines that followed at her back. "Where is Rodney?"

Sora stood a bit more rigid at the question, "Nice to see you too, Teyla."

Teyla walked forward until she was but a few feet away from Sora, "Sora, what have you done with Rodney?"

"I left him awhile back-"

One of the marines moved forward to apprehend Sora, Teyla having identified her as Genii they knew she was an escaped prisoner. He grabbed her one free hand went to wrench it behind her back. The movement jarred her shoulder and she hissed, "Let up!" She tried to jerk back from him, the sudden movement startling the other marines and Teyla heard the sound of a wraith stunner being prepared to fire and disable the woman.

She stepped in front of the stunner and harshly spoke, "Stop! You are not to fire, without her we have no way to find Rodney."

Teyla eyed her wrapped arm, realizing that the marine was aggravating an injury and demanded that he release her. He narrowed his gaze but released his grip on her, though refusing to back away from her.

"You obtained that injury in the crash?"

"Yes, we went down soon after we left the city."

Teyla's face betrayed no emotion although several thoughts were simultaneously running through her head, "And Rodney is ok?"

"I want a guarantee that my two men and I will be returned to Genii first. Then we'll discuss him," she said although Teyla heard a little bit of hesitation in her voice, something else was going on. Sora was conflicted over something.

"I do not have the capacity to make such negotiations. Only Dr. Weir can make such decisions and promises."

Sora shook her head, she needed this promise and get moving, "Rodney doesn't have time for politics. I want _your _guarantee that we will be permitted to leave. I came here of my own resolve in good faith, and I expect the favor to be returned."

Teyla stepped forward a step at the suggestion that Rodney was in trouble, "He is injured?"

"No…yes? Not too badly from the crash but he seemed sick. I'm not a doctor!"

Teyla looked at the marines surrounding the pair of them, two standing at Teyla's own side and another two behind Sora to cut off any route of escape, all still holding their weapons at the ready. She knew she didn't have the right to make these decisions…but it was Rodney.

"You would trust the person that you accuse of killing your father?"

"Given the choice? No. But I don't have much of a choice, now do I?"

"I cannot make a promise that you will be allowed to leave. Your people killed some of Dr. Weir's people. I can give my word that I will speak on your behalf that you be permitted to leave."

It wasn't perfect, but Sora knew it was the best she could probably hope for. At least Teyla hadn't lied about her capacity to guarantee their release and had given her realistic odds. Truthfully she wasn't sure that she would have been able to leave Rodney out there if they had refused, the man had grown on her quite a bit…

"Then I suppose your word will have to do. I can take you to Rodney. He needs medical attention."

"I will need a few minutes to radio back to Atlantis and we can depart," Teyla said before turning and heading to the jumper, leaving the four marines to stay with Sora. A few steps away she ran the rest of the way to the jumper. She had taken her radio off, it didn't work this far out anyways. They used the long distance communicator in the jumper to radio back for updates. She sat down in the control seat and hit the sequence of buttons she had memorized that would connect her to the control room back on Atlantis.

"Atlantis, this is Teyla."

There was a hiss of static before someone finally responded a few seconds later, _"Control room, Bates here. Sorry for the delay, the engineers are working on communication tower repairs as we speak."_

"I have information pertaining to the location of Rodney."

The normally stoic man spoke before he was able to rein in his excitement_, "You've found him?"_

"We are not with him, but we have information that should lead us to his location. Is Dr. Weir available?"

"_Oh, yes, I can do that. Give me a moment to connect you." _

The sound at the other end cut off into silence before she heard another voice, this time female, _"Teyla, this is Elizabeth. I've been told you know where to find Rodney?"_

"Yes, Sora showed up as we were clearing one of our fields. She requested safe passage for herself and her companions back to their home world in exchange for Rodney."

"_What did you tell her?"_

"That I would do my best to plead her case that she is allowed to leave assuming her cooperation."

"_And she agreed to these terms?"_

"For the time being yes, she said that further negotiations could be worked out later."

"_Doesn't she surrender her bargaining chip by leading us there? What does she think she'll have to bargain with later?"_

"I do not know her motivation for taking our word, but she suggested that urgency was required. Rodney needs medical attention."

A voice laced with a Scottish accent cut in this time, _"What is his condition?"_

"_Oh, that's Beckett. He insisted to be on the line. How is he?"_

"I haven't seen him yet, she mentioned that he sustained injuries in the crash and that he appeared ill when she left him to find us, she suggested he wasn't well enough to finish the trip himself."

"_Ach, that bugger. Always in trouble. Do you know where we should land the medical team to meet ye?"_

"I would suggest landing at the village, the surrounding area is too densely forested to evacuate him by jumper. He will have to be carried this far to meet you."

"_You don't happen to have a medic with ye, do ye lass?"_

"We did not anticipate requiring medical assistance during our construction, so no."

"_That's no good" _he said, Teyla picking up the frustration in his voice. She could imagine why, they'd been looking for him, anxious at the inability to immediately help their friend or even find him up till this point._ "Go to his location lass, but ye are to call me when you get there. We should be close enough by then for your radio to be within range to reach us. Ye aren't to move him until you speak to me. If he's seriously injured then he'll have to wait until I can be there to stabilize him."_

"I understand Dr. Beckett. We are departing now; I will take our medical case with us."

"_Take care lass; I'll be there soon to look after him."_

"Dr. Weir, can you contact Sheppard and tell him the news? He can meet us here as well; they shouldn't be far from here. I do not want to make Rodney wait while I make the call and explain this again."

"_Of course Teyla, bring him home safely. Atlantis out."_

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They had picked up a brisk pace, Teyla leading the way with the marines and Teyla filing in behind. The marines had wanted to walk up in front of Sora, worried that she might run off, but Sora pointed out that she didn't have anywhere to go, they were her only ticket off this continent and they had eventually eased back to walking next to Teyla.

Sora picked up the pace when she spotted something up ahead, the rest following suit until they were jogging after her. She knelt down to the still form of McKay who was lying on his side on the ground and didn't stir at the sound of Sora calling his name or shaking his shoulder. Teyla was by their side a moment later with the open medical kit. Beckett had given her a crash course in first aid, but looking at her friend she doubted she had the medical expertise for this. She was trained in the basics of emergency medicine, how to stop bleeding, check a pulse, respiration, tie a proper sling and bandage. McKay wasn't awake to tell her what was wrong and she didn't know how to do a detailed assessment. Heeding Beckett's request that she not transport him without contacting him first, she gently rolled him over onto his back and began categorizing his injuries.

She tapped her radio, hoping that Beckett was in range and was quickly given a response_, "Beckett here, Teyla, that you?"_

"Yes, we've arrived at Dr. McKay's location. He is unconscious," she said as she began checking his respiration rate and pulse.

"_Bugger. That's not what I wanted to hear. Has he been like that for awhile?"_

Teyla asked Sora who responded that he had been awake but not completely alert when she had left him, Teyla then relaying the information to Carson.

"_Ok, could be worse. What can ye tell me?"_

"His breathing is rapid, pulse a little fast. He has a blood spotted bandage on one arm, but that is from the storm if I remember correctly."

"_Aye, what else?"_

Sora heard this bit and said she had noticed a few things. Teyla immediately passed her radio over and showed her how to fit it to her ear.

"_Teyla, you still there lass? Any information you have will help me get ready for him."_

"This is Sora. I've been with him since we left. His appetite tapered off last night and he hasn't eaten or drank much today."

Beckett didn't comment on the fact that Sora was now speaking, trusting that she was telling the truth, and he would take any information he could obtain, _"Any vomiting?"_

"Not that I am aware of. He thought he broke some ribs in the crash, we bandaged them but they've been bothering him, he removed some supplies from his pack to lighten it this morning so I assume they were hurting him."

"_The daft man! He was carrying a pack with ribs like that?"_

"We didn't have much of a choice doctor, we needed food to make it this far."

"_He's been mobile though, and was moving ok?"_

"Stopping every once in awhile for breaks, but yes, we've travelled from the crash site together."

"_Ok, pass the radio back over to Teyla so I can give her instructions. Yer information has helped."_

Sora gave it back and Teyla put it back into place, "Teyla here again."

"_Ok lass, I'm not there to clear him myself, but it sounds like he's been up and moving we will go on the assumption that moving him any further won't detrimentally affect him. You have something to carry him?"_

"We brought a blanket to place him on and the marines will carry him."

"_Alright, get back here as soon as ye can, the major just landed and we're waiting. How far are ye?"_

"About fifteen minutes,"

"_Ok, we'll be ready to get him back to the city. Beckett out."_

Teyla and one of the marines maneuvered McKay onto the blanket, he didn't stir throughout the process, causing Teyla's frown to deepen. She had hoped that he would have roused by now. A marine grabbed each end of the blanket and they began their trip back to the village.

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	16. Molly Coddling

**Author's Note**

A big thanks to everyone that has been reviewing. I am way behind on review responses and my goal is to catch up in the next day or so. I apologize for neglecting all of my fantastic readers! I promise to reply to all of your wonderful responses, and a huge thank you once again, reviews are one of the things that make writing so much fun!

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**Chapter 16 – Molly Coddling**

Sheppard was pacing back and forth, eyes never moving from the direction they should be approaching from. They should have been here, damn it! He looked down at his watch again; it had been seventeen minutes since he had landed. He spared a quick glance back at the jumpers parked side by side. Beckett had a gurney rolled out to the entrance, an IV already hanging from a pole, and was arranging his medical gear for the third time that Sheppard had observed. He wasn't the only anxious one. His search team were scattered about, a few helping keep watch for Teyla's approach, the majority of the remaining men were sitting on the benches in his jumper, Beckett having demanded that all non-medical personnel clear his jumper so he and his medical team had room to work.

Sheppard heard a shout and immediately snapped his head back around to see the first of the marines coming into the field. He ran forward to meet them, slowing up next to Teyla who had her hand on the huddled mass between the two marines supporting each end. She nodded in his direction as he looked down at his friend. Rodney's eyes were closed and from the neck down his form was hidden by the blanket they had wrapped him in. Before he had a good chance to look at him, though, they were at the jumper and Beckett was giving directions and helping settle McKay on the gurney, quickly stripping away the blanket and diving into action. One of the medics began taking his stats while Beckett directed his attention to Rodney's other concerns. He started by slipping Rodney's tactile vest off and then went to work cutting away his jacket; McKay had lost more clothing in this manner than Sheppard could count. The man really had a way of attracting calamity.

Carson's shoulders tensed as he cut away the last layer, finally arriving at the bare torso. There was a thick line of bruising across his upper chest. After a visual exam he began palpitating the area with gloved hands gently searching for broken bones. He frowned as something shifted beneath his fingers, finding two similar areas before he was suddenly interrupted by Rodney shifting a bit and letting out a weak whimper.

"Rodney, you back with us lad?" he asked as he moved to look down at Rodney's face. His patient's face contorted into a pained expression as he opened and closed his eyes before finally focusing on the face above him.

"I never…went anywhere."

Carson let a quick smile flit across his face before it was replaced by a concerned expression as he heard the raspy quality to Rodney's breathing, there was a lot of congestion, maybe some pneumonia, he speculated as he put his stethoscope to the man's chest to get a better listen. McKay flinched at the cold metal, "Easy lad," he coaxed, putting a hand on his shoulder, "We're just seein' what damage ye managed yerself this time."

He didn't like the sound of his breathing at all, probably the infection gone untreated from earlier. He motioned for a medic to hand him an oxygen mask, not taking his attention of his friend for a moment. He held it to the side, hoping to get a bit more information out of his patient, "Rodney, I need to know how yer feelin.' Can ye do that?"

"Heh…crappy."

"I surmised as much, what hurts?"

"Ribs…arm…"

"That all?"

"Hard to breathe…"

"Aye, I have a fix for that right here," Carson replied as he settled the oxygen mask over Rodney's mouth and nose, hoping it would alleviate a little bit of the difficulty he was having breathing.

A few feet away, Sheppard watched intently, unwilling to look away but knowing enough to let Beckett do his thing first. Teyla touched his arm, drawing his attention away from the spectacle unfolding around Rodney, causing him to turn toward her and the person standing to her side. As his eyes settled on Sora the frustration and anger of the last thirty-six hours finally zeroed in on a target, "Teyla, why isn't she in restraints?"

"Because she was cooperative, she helped us find Rodney."

"If I understand correctly, it was only to bargain for the chance to gate offworld."

"We couldn't have done it without her."

Sheppard shook his head; this was her fault in the first place. She had invaded the city and then to add further insult, she had taken McKay away just when he was getting a chance to recover from that incident and dragged him out to further injury. He motioned two of his men to step in, one grabbing her on each side. She let out a short, pained noise, but his men didn't flinch.

McKay, on the other hand, responded by trying to prop himself up on an arm, Beckett immediately stopping the man before he could tangle his IV lines, "Rodney, settle down," the doctor said firmly as he released his grip.

McKay responded by staying put but going up to pull the oxygen mask away from his face, earning a second reprimand from Beckett, "Rodney, you leave that alone! I'm three seconds from putting a tube down your throat to help you breathe, yer in no condition to be taxing your lungs!"

"Just…a sec," he said, closing his eyes for a moment as he gathered a bit of energy, "Sheppard…leave her alone."

John leveled a confused stare at Rodney; it was strange that Rodney would jump to the defense of the woman who had taken him captive.

"She…helped. And is hurt, let Beckett look at her."

Beckett focused his attention on her immediately. Seeing her bandaged arm, he sent one of his medics over to check her out.

"She's a prisoner Rodney. It's my job to make sure she stays put this time," Sheppard said, although not with his usual punch, he was relieved to see Rodney alive, awake, and ok above all else.

"We'll talk later…I'll explain. Just trust me, she helped. Please?"

Carson chose then to move the oxygen mask back into place, "Alright, that'll be enough. Ye've had a word and now ye'll stay put and let me work! And Sheppard, leave the lass alone. Let my team look at her now and ye can have your say later perhaps."

"I'm not leaving her unattended."

"Ach. Fine, leave one of your men to babysit her if you want, but there'll be no manhandling any of my patients on my watch," Carson muttered as he was securing a few straps over McKay's lower body, skipping on the torso ones because of his ribs.

"Fine. Ford, you're on Sora. Keep a close eye on her." John watched as they pulled Rodney's gurney back into the jumper, Carson still at his side, "Alright lad, we're going home. I'm gonna give ye a little something to dampen the pain a wee bit."

Rodney seemed to have nodded off a bit already as Carson injected something into his IV line and then turned to look up from where he was kneeling at John who was standing in the back of the jumper, "We're ready to go."

"Alright, let's go," Sheppard responded.

"You can't be in here major."

"You said yourself you're done until we get back to Atlantis and I'll stay out of your way back here."

"You forgettin' something major? Ye need to fly the other jumper."

"I am going to ride with you," he said firmly.

"No one else has the gene."

"Then we'll just take yours and I'll send someone else out here to pick up the jumper," he said, trying to make any excuse he could. He hadn't seen Rodney in what felt like ages, there'd been anxious worrying and searching, he wasn't about to let McKay out of his sight again.

"Major, be rational here. We have more than twenty people out here, there's no way we are all fitting in one jumper."

"But-"

"Major, fly back, meet us in the infirmary. Rodney's going to sleep the rest of the way home anyway. The longer you argue the more time you're making Rodney here wait to receive proper treatment for his injuries."

Sheppard looked at the ceiling for a moment, thinking of any hole he could poke in the logic, but couldn't find any. He suddenly turned around and shouted at the men who were lounging around, men from his search team chatting with the ones that had been with Teyla, getting the details of the rescue, "Alright! Let's go people; we have a man to get back to Atlantis! Everyone to your respective jumpers. If you came with Beckett you'll be riding back with Teyla's team, Beckett wants room to work."

There was a flurry of movement as Sheppard took one more look at Rodney, almost to assure himself that the man hadn't pulled a disappearing act. Carson picked up on this and spoke, "He'll be alright lad."

Sheppard didn't say anything, simply nodding once before turning to Ford. He was watching a medic examine Sora's shoulder. John told him that he would go with Beckett to keep an eye on Sora before traipsing out of the jumper and over to his own to do the quick trip back to the city.

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"Rodney, come on lad, time to wake up," someone muttered too quietly for Rodney to hear, or maybe he just wasn't awake enough yet. He finally had something soft to sleep on and that's exactly what he wanted to do, people just needed to leave him alone.

"Ye've had a nap, now let's wake up a bit, shall we?" someone was patting him on the side of his face. He raised a hand to stop the annoying tapping only to have it grabbed and settled back by his side, "Last thing I need is you to get that started bleedin' again, leave it be and open yer eyes."

The patting hadn't stopped and was awake enough that he wasn't going to get back to sleep easily enough so he opened his eyes only to squint; the lights were way too bright.

"There we go lad, we're back on Atlantis, we're gonna move ye onto the scanner to get a better picture of your ribs."

"Had enough wilderness…stupid forest," he muttered under his breath in agreement. That meant electricity, and no more trees or mud. That was enough to prompt into a true wakefulness as the scene around, or rather above him, came into focus. Being flat on his back as he was he couldn't see a whole lot of his surroundings.

"Ok lad, we're movin' ye onto the scanner now," Carson said as he was lifted by several pairs of hands and laid on different, harder surface.

"Give me the bed back; I'm tired of sleeping on the ground."

He heard a chuckle from somewhere to the side, "Aye, we'll have ye settled in a nice soft bed soon enough. I need ye to stay still while I get a proper scan of yer ribs, ok Rodney?"

"Ok…" It wasn't like he was in much of a position to argue. There was a whirring of the machine positioned above him for a little over a minute before the noise stopped.

He laid there for a few more minutes until Beckett's face came back into focus over top of him. "Ye've cleanly broke three of yer ribs. We're going to get those wrapped, then have a look at yer arm. Let's get ye that bed ye wanted, eh?"

"Sounds nice." They could do whatever they wanted, he just wanted to get done with this pestering so he could go back to sleep. He let his eyes close for another moment, remotely aware that he was being moved again. There were some awkward movements as they handled him and Beckett made good on his word as he was settled onto a much softer bed with a raised back portion.

He wriggled a few times, appreciating having a pillow for the first time in awhile, it amazed him how the things he took for granted on a normal basis became so much more appreciated when he had to do without them for a time.

"Not yet lad, don't nod off on me yet," that Scottish drawl pestered again as he felt Beckett's strong hands closing around each shoulder, pulling him up into a sitting position and then pulling his blanket down when he felt a sudden chill.

He lazily glanced at the infirmary, it was rather quiet for the most part, there was an orderly supporting his back as Beckett turned around to a tray to grab something before facing him again.

"Alright lad, I'm goin' to get these ribs wrapped. Just keep still and we'll get this done quick," Beckett made eye contact with him to make sure he understood, Rodney gave him a weak nod in response. He wished Beckett would stop treating him like an infant. He may be tired, maybe a tad sick, but he didn't need the doctor to narrate his every movement to him. He was a genius for one, and he had a perfectly good set of eyes to see what Carson was doing for himself. If he'd had more energy he would have argued, but it just wasn't in him right now. He'd do it after a good nap maybe…

Sparks flew behind his eyes as he arched his back and cursed as something constricted around his chest like a vice, "STOP!" The pressure didn't let up but he felt the orderly tighten his grip on both shoulders, trying to ease him back down from the tense position he had adopted. There was another pull and he let out a weak wimper, "Carson, stop, please…"

"Just a few more moments lad, let me get this done. We need to get these wrapped proper."

There was another sharp pain as Carson wrapped a thick bandage around his chest a few more times and pulled them tight again.

"That hurts! Knock me out, something, I don't care!" He tried to pull back, why wouldn't he stop? He closed his eyes expecting another harsh round, slowly opening them and looking at Beckett as the man laid a hand on his shoulder.

"There, we're done with that bit. Hurts for a sec, aye, I know. But we need to keep those ribs from shifting while they're healin' or we could have some complications."

The orderly slowly let him lay back, Rodney immediately rolling onto his side and clutching at his abused ribs and taking shallow breaths, damn they were wrapped tightly. "And you couldn't have knocked me out for that?"

"Ach, the solution to everything isn't sedatives. Yer already on morphine, ye need natural sleep, not drugged sleep."

"Doesn't feel like you gave me anything stronger than Advil…"

"Trust me lad," Carson said, squeezing his shoulder, "it would've hurt a lot more without. Ye'd be able to tell the difference. Ye feelin' ok now? Didn't feel anything shift when we did that, did ye?" Carson was intently staring at the way his patient was still scrunched up, if it had hurt that much maybe something went wrong…

"God, can you loosen these a bit?" he asked, running his hand over the bandages, "I can hardly breathe here!"

Or maybe it was just McKay being a little over dramatic. He'd let him get away with it for now, the man had been through enough to warrant a bit of leniency. "Sorry Rodney, they need the support. If they shift it's a surgery to repair them. We're lucky they were in good condition as they were the way ye were movin' around with them, trekkin' around in the woods."

"Torture me, why don't you?"

Carson's face dipped into a frown at this, although Rodney's eyes were closed so he missed it. Beckett didn't try to cause pain, and it made him distraught when he had to do it, especially to a friend, in the process of healing. It wasn't torture though…and he certainly didn't like being compared to the men who had taken a knife to his patient just a few days ago. McKay really needed to watch what he said sometimes, a pleasant dream at least.

"Ye need anything?"

"The good drugs would be nice."

"Aye, I'm givin' ye a bit more morphine and I want ye to sleep."

Rodney peeked one eye open, "I thought you just said drugs weren't the solution?"

"I said over-excessive drug use wasn't, but this is warranted. If yer in too much pain to sleep it'll do ye no good," he said as he injected the contents of his syringe into McKay's IV port. He was planning on letting the scientist drift off before cleaning out his arm wound, putting him through the rib procedure had probably been enough grief for one day. He could grant the scientist one reprieve.

"Sure…try to fix your contradictions…now…" McKay muttered a few incomprehensible words at the end as the tension in his face relaxed a bit and his breathing leveled out some, suggesting he was drifting into unconsciousness.

Beckett smiled; it was nice to have the man back. He rolled McKay back onto his back, tucking a blanket in over him and placing an oxygen mask back over his face to reduce the stress on his lungs. There were a few odds and ends to take care of until he would be satisfied that Rodney was safe to leave overnight, but it was a start.

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	17. Shaken

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**Chapter 17 – Shaken**

Beckett approached the curtain drawn around the bed intending to look in on his patient, expecting him to still be asleep. He'd been brought into the infirmary about seven hours ago and he should be sleeping for at least another hour or so. Even though, he had increased the frequency of his visits, peaking between the curtains every fifteen to twenty minutes for the past hour or so in case Rodney did wake up early, you could never trust Rodney to behave as expected, he could never make it easy.

He looked in, about to pop back out after seeing that the form on the bed was completely still. Just as he was about to pull the privacy curtain back closed he paused as in the dimmed light he made out the glint of a pair of open eyes. "Rodney, you awake there lad?" he asked quietly, not wanting to wake the man if he was still partially resting.

Rodney's head turned toward his voice, "Yeah."

Carson waited for a moment, expecting the man to say more than a single word, but nothing was forth coming, "Everything ok? Are you feeling alright?" he asked, moving into the curtained area and raising the lights on a panel on the wall.

"I'm ok. A little sore still, but what can you do? Broken ribs'll hurt, not much you can do to get rid of that."

"Aye, they'll do that. Why didn't you call me if you were up ye daft lad? The call button's right next to yer head. Normally yer ringing it off the hook. I would've come to check on ye," he said, now standing at the side of Rodney's bed.

"Figured you probably had stuff to take care of and would show your face eventually. Not like I'm going anywhere. Where's Sheppard and Teyla and Ford?"

"Heh. They've been making runs past the entrance of my infirmary almost all night, the lot of them. I wouldn't put it beyond them to have put a schedule together. They've tried to look in on ye several times, I keep shooing them away, finally gave in and told them I would call them when ye were ready for visitors, thinkin' maybe they'd get some sleep themselves."

"Oh."

"Think ye'll sleep anymore? Yer body could still do with a might more rest," Carson suggested as he pulled out his stethoscope and motioned for Rodney to lose the blanket so he could get a listen. Rodney should've been more alert by now. Normally the man would be complaining up a storm by now, harassing his medical staff to attend to his every need, from fluffing his pillows to getting him some real food from the cafeteria, the food they served in the infirmary usually didn't satisfy McKay's picky palate.

Rodney watched Carson's facial expressions as he listened intently to his breathing. He saw the doctor's brow scrunch a bit and inquired about it, "Is it bad?"

"Ach, it's not an exact science, predicting how fast ye'll get better. Ye are sounding better, still a little too raspy for my liking, but any improvement is excellent. Are ye feelin' like it's hard to breathe still? I pulled ye off oxygen a few hours ago when yer breathing leveled out some but I can bring it back in if ye want."

Rodney immediately shook his head, "I'm ok. I hate those masks…they make me sound like Darth Vader."

Beckett smiled a bit at the Star Wars reference; the classics did seem to stay around forever. Letting that thought slip from his consideration, he came back to caring for the man before him. Rodney was breathing well enough that it probably wasn't totally necessary, but then Carson preferred to play it safe when he could. He looked a few of the monitors around McKay's bed, analyzing the readouts and pondering a course of action. He'd given the man a strong round of antibiotics to combat the infection and had a secondary one being administered continuously through his IV; he'd done all he could for the ribs. That left the arm, he'd repaired the stitches that McKay had pulled, but what he still needed to do was replace the ones he had put in before the escapade on the mainland, many of them had loosened a little too much for his liking in all of the stress Rodney had put on them in the last few days. He really shouldn't have been using that arm at all, and wouldn't have if he hadn't disappeared from Carson's care.

"Darth Vader, eh?"

"Yeah, not exactly an advantage when I'm hanging around here half naked with your hot nurses…" Alright, that was at least some of the spunk he was used from his friend, it was better than nothing.

"Aye, of course. Ain't nothing like ye without a shirt to stir the ladies."

"Hey! Don't play the sarcasm game with me. Sheppard's not the only hot stuff to end up in here from time to time. I've been working out."

"If by working out ye mean trips to the cafeteria to refill your coffee mug?"

"Oh, that's enough, heckle the injured man why don't you!" Rodney exclaimed, breathing hard from the exertion of talking so much all at once.

"Alright, no need to get excited now, last thing ye need is to get another coughing fit started," Beckett said as he pulled a tray loaded with his tools up the trade next to the bed that he had prepared during their exchange. "I need to replace some of the stitches on yer arm there, they're loose."

"Whatever. It's always one thing or another, never content to just come to visit. It's always poking and prodding," Rodney said, although there wasn't true annoyance in his voice, being difficult was just second nature to him. He'd let his eyes drift close, suddenly feeling a bit more tired all of a sudden. Maybe he would take a nap there once Carson finished up with him for the time being.

Carson had removed the bandage wrapped around the wound and settled one gloved hand on his arm, prompting Rodney to open his eyes to see what was going on. He looked down at Beckett's administrations and his eyes froze on the sharp metal implement in his hand.

All of a sudden images were playing back through his head. A soldier with a knife, holding his arm tightly even as he tried to pull back, Kolya watching with a sadistic gleam in his eye. Kessler sitting next to him, a bloodied knife in his hand.

"GET BACK!" The change was instantaneous as he jerked to the other side of the bed, getting tangled in the blanket over his legs as he did so. He tucked his injured appendage against his chest and gripped it possessively with his other hand. He took shallow breaths even as his eyes never left the blade.

A startled Beckett had taken a few steps back from the bed, both hands raised in the air to show he meant no harm and a quizzical expression on his face, "Rodney?" he asked softly, not wanting to startle his patient any more than he already had, "What's wrong lad? Did I hurt ye?" He scanned his patient's contorted body, looking for any sign of blood or injury. He was most concerned that he might have nicked Rodney as he had been going to cut the first suture. He looked at the scalpel to see if it had blood on it and then his gaze tracked to Rodney's face, the man's eyes still glued to the blade. And then it clicked. Bugger! Kolya…the torture. He'd probably triggered a flashback, damn! He should've considered that.

"Rodney…I'm not going to hurt ye lad. I'm sorry I didn't warn ye I was going to start. Can I see that arm; make sure we didn't hurt it any worse just now?"

Rodney tore his gaze from the scalpel for the first time, making eye contact with Carson, "Not until you put it down." There was no mistaking the absolute solemnity in his voice; he was making a demand, not a request.

Carson nodded slowly, "I'm going to put it on this tray, then can I have a look?"

Rodney didn't give a verbal response but gave a cautious nod. Carson took care to move slowly, realizing that the man was already spooked and not wanting to aggravate him any further. He set the scalpel on the tray and then pushed the tray back far from the bed, imagining that McKay would be more comfortable if it weren't anywhere near him.

He kept both of his hands in plain sight as he approached; wanting his patient to see that he wasn't bringing anything with him that could be taken as threatening. "Can I take a look?" he asked, one hand on the railing of the bed but reaching no further, McKay still hadn't moved from the defensive posture he had curled up into.

McKay looked down at his arm and then back up at Beckett. He relinquished his own grip on it with his good hand and held it out toward Carson. Carson didn't take it immediately, first searching McKay's face for any hint as to how he was feeling or what he was thinking, but the man's face was a blank slate. He then looked down at the appendage, it didn't look much worse than it had when he'd unwrapped it. He had managed to cut the one suture before McKay pulled back and a little blood was on the cut at that point, but he hadn't cut anything. He'd need to fix that suture but he didn't dare try that right now.

"Where'd ye go lad? Were you having a flashback?"

"You just startled me…You didn't tell me what you were doing, you should have."

"Aye, I know Rodney. I won't make the mistake again. Did ye want to talk about anything?"

"No, I think I want to go back to bed now. I'm tired."

Ach, it was just like the man to clam up the one time it was important to talk. He'd rub any other injury in the face of anyone he ran into if it meant getting out of something he didn't want to do or getting a little extra attention from his peers, but the one time it would be good for him to do so, he was perfectly silent on the topic. Now wasn't the time to push…there'd be time for that later.

He looked down at the arm one more time, it wasn't bleeding so much as to need immediate attention, he could come back for that when Rodney was sleeping. "Ye looked like ye knocked yer ribs a bit there, I'm going to give ye a bit more painkiller and then ye can sleep for a bit," he said. Once McKay nodded, acknowledging that he understood he moved over to a cart parked along the wall, standing at it from the side so that McKay could see what he was doing. Throwing a quick glace over at the bed, Rodney was indeed watching him warily. His fingers hovered over the vial of morphine that was sitting there before he moved to the vial next to it. He drew some if its contents into a syringe and moved back over the bed.

"Am I alright to give ye this?" he asked, motioning with the syringe. Rodney again didn't give a verbal response, just nodded.

Beckett grabbed his IV line and inserted the needle, quickly depressing the plunger and watching the contents run through the line and disappearing into Rodney's arm. "Alright lad, just close yer eyes and try to get some sleep. I'll be back to check on ye in a bit."

Rodney blinked a few times and rolled his head a bit to the side as his eyelids started to droop. Beckett continued to watch as his patient's tense muscles quickly loosened, hands unclenching from fists as his head dropped back against the bed. Carson waited another minute before moving to straighten the man out into a lying position again from the tangled pose he had adopted in his moment of panic. When his friend didn't stir, he drew the blanket back over him and walked over to exit the curtained off cubicle, throwing one more glance at the now unconscious man.

He sighed; this Genii deal had certainly made a right fine mess here. He didn't like using sedatives, especially as strong a dose as he had just given his friend. But Rodney had been so visibly distressed and that arm needed to be treated. He didn't think he would be able to do that unless Rodney was unconscious for the time-being considering how upset he had made him a few moments ago. He stopped off at the desk where one of the nurses was, asking her to replace his stitches while he tended to a few other things. As she departed to take care of that, he immediately headed for his office and snatched his tablet off his desk. He pulled up Rodney's file and left a note that no one was to take sharp implements in there if Rodney was awake and to tell the patient everything they were doing as they were doing it so he wouldn't be taken by surprise again. Rodney had seemed more ok before this latest stint with the Genii out on the mainland, something must have spooked him out there to aggravate his condition this much. Satisfied with his chart entry he took out a piece of paper and hand-wrote an equivalent message. On his way out of the infirmary he left this at the nurse's station. It was standard practice to read the latest chart entries for any admitted patient when starting a shift, but he really wanted to make sure that Rodney didn't get spooked like that again so the extra reminder couldn't hurt.

Satisfied that everything in the infirmary was taken care of for the moment he headed for Elizabeth's office. There were facts he was missing from Kolya's actions against Rodney and he needed the full story if they were going to figure out the best way to approach this issue with McKay.

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	18. Half the Story

**Author's Note**

Well, I made it to my goal which was to get 50k words out in January on this fic. I've been writing like a maniac to get here and I'm very happy with how it's come along and blown away by all of the reviews I've received, so another huge thanks to everyone who has been reviewing, you've been amazing to me. I am back in school now and juggling writing and homework isn't the easiest thing to do. I had thought that this fic was gonna end about here, but I still have more to write and several loose ends to tie up. I would guestimate that there is somewhere between 10-20k words until I will be able to finish everything up. I'm going to be churning out updates a bit slower from here on out as I'll probably only be able to dedicate some real time to writing over the weekend. So please forgive me for a slowing in update frequency, but I will keep writing! And now I will end my rambling, here is the next chapter!

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**Chapter 18 – Half the Story**

"Carson, you wanted to see me? Come on in and grab a seat," Elizabeth motioned to the seat across the desk from her.

"Aye lass, I've been so busy lately. Haven't gotten to come up and chat with you recently," he said, entering her office and sitting down in the chair.

"So this is social call?" she asked, "It would be a nice relief. All I've had is people running in and out of here, needing my approval for this repair or that trip to the mainland. It's been non-stop for me. If I had two other copies of me I could get it all done and find the time to escape this office," she finished running a hand through her hair.

"Well…I partially wanted to see how ye were, but I also wanted to chat about Rodney…"

"Oh, of course. I'd like an update actually. Like I said, I haven't gotten down to visit him yet. How is he?"

"He's comin' along well enough. We've gotten his fever down and the infection under control. It's mostly him just needing some rest, some food, and to take it easy until his ribs are healed."

"So he's going to be back on duty soon?"

"Physically, he could be ready in a week or so as long as he agrees not to lift anything heavy. It's more the mental component I am more worried about, ye know?"

She put down her pen and pushed her stack of papers aside, "The torture?"

"Aye," Carson replied quietly.

"When we last chatted you said you thought he would bounce back ok as long as we took it slow with him, what's changed?" she asked leaning forward a bit.

"I'm not sure…it had to be something that happened on the mainland. He's a lot more skittish. The lad freaked out pretty badly when I was redoing his sutures; he was spooked by my scalpel."

"Are you thinking that one of those Genii went at him again?"

"Again, he's not being forthcoming with information. He clammed up pretty tight when I asked him. I didn't want to push him."

"How can I help?"

"I was hopin' ye could give me details on what Kolya did to him…Any information would help at this point."

"I don't know much of anything. I was elsewhere in the city when it happened; a few of the soldiers were making me show them where to find medical supplies to pilfer. Speaking of which, you've managed to clean up from that?"

"Aye, my staff did it mostly. I was off for the night with a slight concussion."

"Oh yeah, my god, it's so easy to forget everything that happened during that damnable storm. Everyone took a hit in one way or another."

"I know, it seems so long ago even though it's only been a few days. Although it still seems fresh in Rodney's mind…So ye don't have anything that might help?"

She shook her head and looked down at the desk, wracking her brain for anything, "I mean, I wasn't there when they did it, they grabbed it a few times afterwards when Rodney was verbally assaulting them. He never really learned to hold his tongue…"

Carson stiffened a bit at this and his voice got low and serious, "They-they aggravated the injury over a verbal spat? The bastards."

"I know…what do we do now, though?"

"He needs to talk to someone, right now he's just keepin' it to himself and it'll do him more harm than good."

"What about Heightmeyer?"

"Ach. I wish it were that simple. I know Rodney enough to know he doesn't trust psychologists. Thinks all they want to do is pick him apart and analyze everything."

"Who then?"

"I'm not sure yet…I think Rodney will have to pick someone himself…I'll keep proddin' him now and again, he opened up to me a bit about what Kolya did, but he didn't seem keen on chattin' anymore when he woke up a bit ago."

"So what do we do for now?"

"We wait. I'll probably be releasing him in the next few days to his quarters, but he'll remain off duty until this issue is taken care of. Last thing we need is for him to just bury it with work."

"That's probably a sound assumption. Is there anything I can do to help?"

Carson rubbed the back of his head as he pushed his chair back a bit, "Visit when ye get a chance if ye can, I actually have to be gettin' back, I told Sheppard he could come down and visit. I wanted a word with him before he went in."

Elizabeth nodded, "I'll let you go then, and I'll certainly be down to visit later on. Maybe after dinner. Would that be ok?"

"Aye lass," he said smiling, as he went to stand, "That would be just perfect."

"Alright then, I'll be down later on."

Carson gave her a final nod, "And even with everything, make sure yer takin' some time to yerself, getting' enough sleep and food, last thing I need is another patient."

Elizabeth reached into a drawer and pulled out a powerbar, "Not my favorite, but it does the job when I can't get down to the mess. I leave the self-abuse to the men around here; god knows you have your hands full enough with them."

"Thank the lord for you Elizabeth," he said as he moved toward the door, "ye help keep me sane in times like these. I look forward to seeing ye later."

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Sheppard rose to his feet as Carson entered the infirmary, "Where'd you get off to?"

Carson put his hands in his lab coat pockets, "Had a few errands to run, it's a bit quiet around here."

"How's Rodney? He'll be up for visitors, right?" Sheppard asked a little anxiously. He'd been trying to get in to see his friend ever since McKay had been brought back the Scottish physician had been iron clad in his resolve, saying that it would be awhile until he was ready for visitors.

"Aye, he should be up and feelin' good enough. Think ye can get him to maybe eat a bit? I called down and had them bring up some of that blue jello he likes so much from the mess."

"He shouldn't need much coaxing, he loves that stuff."

"Eh, he's still feelin' a bit off, not much of an appetite; so far it's been mostly just IV nutrition. He could use something solid in him, or semi-solid I suppose, jello isn't really a solid I suppose..."

Sheppard nodded, "I can do that. He's been doing ok?"

"A little too subdued for my likin,' but hopefully that will improve as he gets some of his energy back."

John raised an eyebrow, "You're actually wishing he would complain more? Usually you are ready to kick him out of here after a day or two of McKay complaining full force."

"I'm just a bit worried about the lad; it'll be good to see him with more of his normal spunk."

"He's ok though, right? Or he will be?"

"Aye, if I have any say in it. Ready to go visit him?

"Oh, of course," Sheppard said as he took a step toward Carson.

Carson turned with Sheppard following and they crossed the infirmary, stopping at the nurse's desk near Rodney's curtained enclosure. "I'd like ye to leave yer knife out here," he said, pointing to the one that hung from his belt.

Sheppard's brow creased a bit, "You've never had a problem with it before. I'm not going to go at him with it. I always wear it when I'm on duty, I never go unarmed anywhere."

Carson sighed, "Ye can keep yer gun, but the knife stays out here. Ye can leave it here at the station and pick it up on yer way out."

"What is this about? You've never had that policy before," he said, settling a hand over the handle of the knife.

Carson looked up at the ceiling for a moment, he'd known that the major would have a problem with this request, but he couldn't go explaining it without revealing what had happened to Rodney and that fell under doctor-patient confidentiality.

"Look son; just trust me on this, please."

"Is something going on with Rodney here? I can't help but feel that there's something you're not telling me."

"I can't explain it right now, but ye can't go in there with the knife."

"I'll leave it out here when you tell me what's going on," Sheppard said a bit more loudly this time, he didn't like that Beckett was holding back information from him.

"Calm down major. I _can't _tell ye. I'm not entirely sure myself. I'm tryin' to figure it out."

"Well you've at least figured something out and I want to know what."

"Son, the answers no for the time being, you'll have to take my word on this. Ye can't go in there with the knife. If ye want to see Rodney, ye need to leave it out here."

"But-"

"John, Rodney could really use the support right now, yer the first person I am letting in. Can ye just trust me right now?"

John narrowed his gaze as he tapped the hilt of his knife and thought about it for a moment before unbuckling the holster from his belt and holding it forward for the doctor to grab, "Fine. I'm doing this for Rodney right now, but don't think we're done with this conversation. You be here when I finish, I want another word."

Beckett let out the breath he had been holding, Rodney really could use a visit from John to raise his spirits and he had been genuinely worried that Sheppard wouldn't budge, "Thank ye lad. I'll be around when ye finish. Go ahead in. I'll have a nurse bring the jello by if ye can convince him to eat a bit."

Sheppard nodded once and then walked past Carson and through the curtain, ready to visit his friend, it'd been too long since he had had a real word with the man.

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	19. The Meat of the Matter

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**Chapter 19 – The Meat of the Matter**

"Rodney?" Sheppard asked quietly as he entered, "You awake buddy?"

The lump under the blankets shifted a few times and a moan emanated from the figure, "Yeah, yeah. I'm up."

Sheppard let out the breath he hadn't realized that he had been holding for a moment, he had been worried that his friend would be sleeping and Beckett would put off this meeting even longer the protective man. "You feeling better?"

"Heh…depends on your definition."

John dragged up the stool that had been rolled into the corner and plopped himself down on it next to the bed a little stiffly. Normally he'd kick his feet up on the edge of the bed, but this time it was a bit different. He wasn't quite sure how to start this conversation. There was something going on here that he was out of the loop on. Everyone was tip-toeing around Rodney, and then that weird thing with the knife right outside. "Well, last time I saw you, you were in and out of consciousness. I'd take you being up as an improvement?"

Rodney pushed himself up a little further on the bed, "Yeah, I've been awake for awhile, a little boring though, not much to do in here."

Sheppard smirked a bit at that, "Beckett keeping you on lockdown?"

"So far. Although I haven't been too hard on him about it…It's nice to sleep in a bed."

"Planning to start in on that routine tomorrow?"

Rodney let out a yawn and shook his head a few times before making eye contact with John again and shrugging, "Eventually, I'm ok here for now."

Sheppard took a few moments to look Rodney, again looking for any insight into his condition. The exhaustion was apparent, there was a fresh bandage wrapped around one arm, an IV disappearing into the other. Someone had given him a pair of red scrubs to change into and he had a blanket obscuring him from the waist down. He didn't look terrible, just exhausted. There would normally be erratic hand motions accompanying each flurry of words that would fly from his mouth in quick bursts. The man before him wasn't the typical Rodney, his eyes were half open and answers came in responses of a few words without any inquiries attached on the end. No questions of if his blue shirts had blown anything up yet.

Sheppard leaned forward and put his hand on the railing, "You sure you're feelin' ok McKay?"

Rodney cocked his head at him, "Why, do I look worse than Beckett's been letting on? He's been saying that I was doing better…"

"Oh, no. You look ok, much better. You just…" Sheppard scratched his head looking for the right words, "you seem more subdued, tired. You haven't asked about the recovery since the storm."

McKay shrugged again, "You guys are always telling me to let up, that other people will cover it," he said, "figured I would try it for once. I _am _tired. It's been a long few days."

Sheppard dipped his head into another nod, "Can't disagree with you there."

Rodney cocked his head a bit, "You're ok? And everyone else?"

Sheppard sat up a bit straighter at that, trust the injured man to be worrying about everyone else, "Yeah, of course. Everyone's fine. Teyla's helping with repairs in the city, that's how she was there when Sora showed up with info on your whereabouts. Everyone else is just running around various parts of the city, we're working to accommodate the Athosians while repairs are ongoing at the city; Elizabeth's been working on that. You're scientists are taking care of repairs to the city infrastructure, that's about it."

"That's good. What's Ford been up to?"

"Oh…he's guarding the Genii we still have, a pretty quiet post; they're still drugged up to the gills in one of Beckett's private rooms."

Rodney gave his first noticeable response to anything he had said, opening his eyes wide and reaching for the railing to pull himself up to a full sitting position, "Sora? She's ok, right?"

Sheppard's eyes narrowed at this, he couldn't figure out Rodney's protective streak of one of the people that had taken his prisoner, dragged him across the continent, and gotten him injured. It was fine time he got to the bottom of that mystery, "What has you so caught up on her for? Back when we were bringing you in, and now again?"

Rodney frowned a bit at this, "She's not all bad, I would probably be _dead_ without her right now. I wouldn't have made it back to Teyla without her. Chew on that before you start chewing me out over it."

"We were looking for you, we _would _have found you-"

"No, Sheppard. You _might_ have found me."

McKay let the statement hang in the air for a moment; the two deadlocked in a stare before Sheppard broke the silence, "Fine. She helped. Happy?"

"Far from it. I want to know how she is. She was injured too when we came in. How is she?"

John had picked up a ball of gauze from a nearby tray and started unrolling it, something to keep his hands busy, "How about we trade? You tell me what happened out there, and then we can discuss Sora."

"I can just ask Beckett. He'll tell me how she is and won't make me play twenty questions before giving me a straight answer."

"He might, but he might not. He's been tip-toeing around you since you got back and isn't likely to tell you anything that's going to get you worked up."

"What's likely to get me worked up? Did something happen to Sora?" he asked a little more vehemently this time, pushing himself off the back of the bed as he pulled himself up toward Sheppard, "Give me a straight answer Sheppard!" He shouted, taking wheezing breaths once he finished and wincing at the renewed pressure on his healing ribs.

John's eyes widened at this, he hadn't meant to cause the scientist real distress, that was the last thing McKay needed. He let the partially-disassembled gauze roll fall to the floor as he rose to his feet and reached to steady McKay with a hand on his back.

McKay slapped at it, "Damn it Sheppard! I don't need your pity, I get it, I'm hurt. I want to know how Sora is, is she ok or not?!?"

Sheppard took his hand off McKay, splitting his gaze between the reddening mark on his arm and McKay's injured arm wrapped around his mid-section. The bandage on the arm had slid down a bit to reveal the cut, giving Sheppard a look at it for the first time. Black stitches contrasted against the puffy skin surrounding the straight cut. His hands curled into fists as he took a good long moment too look at it. The cut was too straight, he knew what kind of weapons caused a cut like that and it wasn't accidental.

In a dangerously low voice he spoke in a voice that demanded an answer, "Who did this?"

McKay looked up from his hunched position where he gaze had been leveled at his ribs, "Wanna… be a little more specific?"

"The cut on your arm. Who did it? Sora?"

"God, all you want to do is paint her as the enemy! What is your problem?"

"My problem is that someone has taken a knife to my friend like he were a piece of meat to butcher! Sora happens to be one of a very select group of candidates who could've done this and I want to know which one." Sheppard let some of his frustration bleed into his voice, how could he have not been told about this? He took a few breaths to compose himself; McKay isn't the one he should be yelling at, there would be time enough for that later.

"McKay, I don't know who to blame so why don't you clue me in-"

"What is the meaning of this major?" a voice cut him off as the curtains parted and a figure entered, "I told ye not to be upsetting my patient only to hear you yellin' at the lad from the other side of my infirmary!" Carson said, eyes narrowed at Sheppard as he quickly cut in front of him to assess his patient.

"Rodney, ye ok?" he asked as he pressed him back toward the mattress, "I want ye to lean back now, ye can't be taxin' yer ribs like this. There's been enough of that with your outdoor adventure."

Sheppard tried to take a step forward and move in closer to the bed again, "Carson, I just needed to ask Rodney about what happened-"

"Aye, and what part of askin' a few questions involves raisin' yer voice or gettin' my patient riled up?"

"I just need a minute more-"

"No, yer done, out, now," he said, motioning for him to leave, "Ye and I will have that little chat ye wanted as soon as I get done assessing what harm ye've done here," he finished with an angry burr in his voice.

Sheppard's brow creased, he was conflicted between following the order and staying and demanding to get his questions answered. Rodney's wheezing and then wincing as Carson pulled up his shirt to begin checking his ribs for damage tipped the balance and he slowly withdrew from the enclosure as he gave his friend a moment of privacy.

Carson pressed along his patient's ribs gently, feeling to see if anything had shifted before giving a slight nod, withdrawing, and allowing Rodney to pull his shirt back down, "Everything looks ok. How bad is yer pain?"

McKay settled his shirt back into position, "I'll survive. Is Sora ok? Sheppard wouldn't tell me-"

Carson shook his head, Sheppard's bullheadedness wasn't appreciated in times like these, "Ach, she's fine Rodney, don't be frettin' now when we've just got ye settled back down."

"Oh. That's good. Where is she?"

"I've got her in one of the private rooms. She's been askin' after ye as well. Makes a man wonder if she might have the hots for one of our resident scientists," he said, raising his eyebrows in amusement.

Rodney blushed, caught without a snarky response for the first time that Carson could remember, "It's not-…No, it's not like that. She helped me…I wouldn't be here without her."

"Aye lad, I know. We're takin' good care of the pair of ye. Now get some rest and I'll be back to check on ye later."

"Can I see her maybe? I'm not even going to bother asking for a computer, the answer to that is plastered all of your face. But it gets a little boring in here, ya know?"

Carson smiled a bit at this, perhaps Rodney was gaining a bit of his energy back, "Tell ye what, eat the meal ye've let get cold over there and we'll see if ye both are up to it later."

"Oh, food…I've still been feeling a little off…"

"If ye aren't good enough to eat ye aren't good enough to go for a visit…" Beckett said, letting the statement drag out for a moment, "Maybe we can try tomorrow then if ye are feeling better."

"Can I get some jello maybe? That counts, right?"

"Aye, that'll be fine, I'll have Jenna bring it by. Finish it and we'll get ye in to see Sora later," he finished as he turned to leave, Rodney was finally showing a little animation, maybe Sora could be the key. His smile faded a bit as he slipped out through the curtain; there was one John Sheppard to deal with now on the ruckus that had no place in his infirmary.

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	20. Reconciliation

Author's Note – Well, after far too long of an interlude here is the next chapter. I do apologize for the delay, school's been having me run the gamut as of late. Still a few more chapters to go but we are getting closer to the end! I'll also throw a plug in for another Rodney whump story I just started. It's going to be a long-term project, a recovery fic focusing on what happens in the period after the infirmary but before Rodney will be allowed through the gate again. I encourage everyone to check it out if you have liked this fic! And enough of my rambling and personal plugs, hope everyone enjoys the latest chapter. I've gotten some requests for more Sora/Rodney interaction so this one is for you guys!

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**Chapter 20 – Reconciliation **

The guards that were stationed at the door to the private room nodded as Carson and Rodney approached. Rodney craned his neck around to look up at Carson, "Does she really have to see me in this thing? I think I already look like enough of a wimp after my passing out routine back on the mainland."

Carson let a small smile crease his lips, "Aye lad, yer ribs aren't ready for moving about, these are yer new wheels when yer out of bed until I release you from the infirmary," he said, patting the handle on the wheelchair. "And ye will be staying right where I put you. Take one step and ye'll be in bed for another week with no computer. I'd like to see ye try to wiggle yer way off that hook."

"Fine, fine. Stay put, I got it."

"Aye, but ye hearing something I say and doing actually doing it are two completely different things when it comes to ye and yer stubborn attitude."

Rodney went to lean forward a bit to get a first peak at Sora. Carson sighed and gently grabbed his patient's shoulder and pulled him back into an upright position. "The chair does ye no good if you wriggling about anyways."

Rodney refrained from a snappy retort as he finally saw Sora. She was lying in the partially reclined bed in a pair of blue scrubs playing with the edge of her blanket. She must be bored, Rodney thought. And he'd thought he had it bad out in the main part of the infirmary. At least he had visitors and something to watch going on, people were always running about doing something or other.

"Sora! I'm glad you're awake. The gatekeeper here said that if you were sleeping it'd be back to my own bed. He seems to be of the opinion that his patients need eighteen to twenty hours of sleep in any given twenty four hour period to be adequately rested."

Carson rolled him up the bed and put the brake on, praying that it might actually prevent McKay from leaving that spot and withdrew without saying anything else. It was a bloody miracle to finally see Rodney with a little animation and chattiness. He'd be back in to take Rodney back to his own bed later on.

Rodney watched to see that Carson was actually out of the room before he spoke again, "The wheels here weren't my choice. You'd think after we walked halfway across the continent without dying he would be confident in my ability to walk twenty feet from my own bed without falling flat on my face," he finished shaking his head. "Anyway, enough of my complaints, how are you? They're treating you ok?"

Sora smiled a bit, "It's been a little slow, but yes, your Dr. Beckett has been very courteous. You shouldn't be so hard on the man. He cares. He's even been so kind as to keep Sheppard off my back."

McKay tightened his hand into a fist at that, "Has he been in here bothering you?"

Sora shrugged, "I think he's tried a few times, I've heard shouting in the hallway between Dr. Beckett and a voice that sounds like his, but he hasn't shown his face in here yet."

"Good. It should stay like that. Carson's chased Sheppard out of my room too, I have a feeling he won't be let back in until he shows Carson that he can be on his best behavior. Usually he's ok…I don't know what about this situation has him on the warpath…He's a good guy, a little quick to jump the gun, but he's saved me more times than I can count."

Sora's face darkened a bit, "It'd have been one less time if we hadn't ever come here in the first place. And you wouldn't be stuck in here either."

"Well…yeah, but…" McKay didn't really know how to answer that one. It was something he had been trying to come to terms with and figure out with all the free time he had on his hands all of a sudden. "I don't have the answer to that I suppose. Sure, if you hadn't come none of this would have happened. But a delusional military commander convinced you otherwise. It happened, yes, people died on both sides, but we came out ok. To me at least, that's the important bit."

"Perhaps for you…but what about for me? You'll get better and go back to work and everything will go back to normal. I don't have much to look forward to except for the inside of the brig."

"But you helped in the end. Maybe for awhile, yes. But show them that you're trustworthy and maybe there's a place for you here."

It was Sora's turn to shake her head, "Your people have died by my people's hand. There will be no peace between us."

"I…I don't know. But I'd like to think that people deserve a second chance. God knows I've been given my fair share, my friends…they're a little rough around the edges at first meeting, but they'll warm up to you eventually."

"I don't know either. I suppose we'll find out eventually. Carson can't keep Sheppard out forever though; I suppose that will be the deciding factor that determines when I trade this bed for a bunk behind bars."

McKay wasn't sure he could assure Sora otherwise, Sheppard did seem to be looking for someone to string up and Sora seemed to be his sacrificial lamb. Although he had to admit she wasn't totally blameless in this, she had invaded the city and had a hand in holding him and the leader of Atlantis hostage, and the subsequent jaunt to the mainland. But did she deserve to have that define her entire relationship with the expedition? He'd seen a different side of her out on the mainland. She could have overpowered him, left him, or worse toward the end of their trip. Instead she'd brought help…that just didn't seem like the behavior of an enemy combatant. But how could he get his teammates to see that?

"So they've been treating you ok so far though?"

"Yeah. Food's better than most of the stuff we get back on Menara so I can't really complain, heh."

"If you think that the food here is good you've been seriously deprived. I'll see if I can't convince the cooks to smuggle me in something. I'll maybe see about getting more power routed their way, their always complaining that they can only get one or two of their ovens going at once."

"That would be nice," Sora said softly. Having someone treat her…friendly, it was a foreign concept. Kolya was either beating the shit out of her or having some of the other men in her unit do it at his command. He had never liked that she was had been assigned the unit, always said it was a product of her father's position on the counsel and nothing else.

Now that she was thinking about it…there was something she could ask Mckay for. She sat up a bit straighter, "Hey, you think you could do me a favor?"

"Uh, I can try. I'm not sure what I'll be capable of cooped up under Carson's watch."

"Oh, I mean when you get out. When I was first taken to the brig Sheppard took away some of my personal belongings. Among them were the last items I had from my father. Do you think you would be able to get them back for me?"

Mckay cocked his head, there were a number of places Sheppard could have taken her stuff, "Um, do you know where he put them?"

Sora shook her head and ran a hand through her hair, "I'm not entirely sure, but it had to be close to where the brig was. He was gone maybe five minutes."

"That narrows it down. I'll see what I can do," he said, hoping that he could follow through on that. Sheppard really could have hidden that stuff anywhere. He'd try at least, and it would give him something to do considering Carson had made it clear he wasn't going to be allowed anywhere near a computer or his labs even when he was released for awhile.

As if summoned at Rodney's mere thought of rebelling against the Scot's orders to rest he heard footsteps behind him and knew who that would be.

"Rodney, everything alright in here? I'm ready to take ye back to yer own bed. I wanted to give ye another round of antibiotics and then maybe take another scan of yer ribs to see how their healing now that we're moving ye around a tad bit more."

"I just got out of bed for the first time and you're already making me go back?"

"Aye, and that'll be the end of your uppity attitude, stop while yer ahead, I do get to decide when ye get out of here." Carson undid the break on the chair and began pulling him backwards out of the room, "Sora, it's good to see that yer doing well lass; I'll have dinner brought up for ye in a wee bit."

She nodded and waved as the pair left. Carson got Rodney settled back in and then left to have a chat with Elizabeth. After seeing the way Rodney interacted with Sora he had an idea. The Rodney not talking dilemma might be easier fixed than he would've thought.

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	21. Ready to Crack some Skulls

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**Chapter 21 – Ready to Crack some Skulls**

Honestly, how many places were there that Sheppard could have hid Sora's stuff? He'd already been through the two rooms adjacent to the brig, all that left was the marines' locker room. Which, theoretically, seemed like a spot Sheppard might have hid the stuff, it was right across from the brig. But at the same time, he'd been trying to keep this low key. Somehow Rodney thought it pretty likely that Sheppard wouldn't like to hear what he was up to. It had at least been something to keep him busy though, Carson had finally released him to off duty status after another twenty-four hours in the infirmary.

Rodney had actually been playing by the Scot's rules so far. He'd kept his nose out of the lab, the most he had done was drop a call in to Zelenka to make sure there wasn't anything that required his immediate attention. If there had been, he would have probably had to argue a round or two with Carson to give him the go ahead, but when it came to the dangerous projects brewing in their labs or malfunctions that had the potential to affect the whole city, Beckett was usually willing to relent after Rodney explained that whatever problem was little now had the potential to become a lot bigger if left untreated.

Rodney poked his head out into the hallway to see what everyone else was up to. The hallway was deserted, which made sense as the captured Genii men were still recovering in one of Carson's private rooms. He quickly crossed the corridor and entered into the marines' locker room, holding his breath and hoping that there was no one in there. He let out a relieved sigh when he didn't see anyone.

"Dr. McKay? What brings you down this way?"

But, that didn't always mean that there wasn't anyone around. McKay slowly turned around to face the voice that had addressed him, "Oh, uh, it's Scotts, right?"

The shirtless soldier grabbed a shirt out of his open locker and went about putting it on, "Rogers, actually."

"Oh, sorry. I'm not that good with names." Rodney explained as he pulled his tablet out of its case. "I'm down here to look at one of the lockers," he said, holding up his tablet. "Most of the engineers have been busy with critical repairs left over from the storm. I figured I could help with some of the smaller stuff."

The marine nodded, "Bout time they got someone down here to look at that. Colgate complains every time he comes down here and can't get that gun of his out of his locker."

Wow. There really was a malfunctioning locker. He'd pulled that out of thin air as an excuse. Rodney put on his best smile and said, "Ancient tech is a bit touchy. Last week I was up in the botany labs. One of the biologists had gotten themselves locked in their supply room."

"Well thanks again doc."

"Oh, real quick, would you happen to know which locker it is? No one gave us that bit of info in the report they filed with our department."

"Sure, two seventeen. It's toward the back right corner," the marine said as he zipped his tac vest.

"Thanks," Rodney said as he started in that direction, "Oh, one more bit. Maybe we can keep this between the two of us? Dr. Beckett has me off duty still, but I figured there wasn't any reason that I couldn't help with the little stuff during my down time."

Rogers nodded and smiled, "We've all been on the receiving end of that man's protective streak. Had me off two weeks with a sprained wrist. I tried to show him that I could shoot a sidearm fine with one hand but he took offense to me pulling a gun out in his infirmary. It'll be between us. Thanks again," he finished as he slid his firearm into his pocket and exited the locker room, the doors closing with a hiss behind him.

McKay made his way to the malfunctioning locker, turned on his tablet, and five minutes had the locker agreeing to open. No reason he couldn't take care of that as long as he was down here. The soldier had been grateful enough to not tell Beckett about him tromping around the city; the least he could do was actually fix the locker.

Having completed that he began snooping around the rest of the room, all of the lockers that were in use had the name of the corresponding marine on a tag taped to each locker. There were only three units that weren't in use and it didn't take him long to get each to open with a little creative convincing with his computer smarts. There was something to be said with having everything in Atlantis being electronic, sure it meant more random malfunctions, but it also meant it was easier to crack things like this. A manual steel lock would have made this impossible for him.

As he popped the second locker open he saw a stack of clothing and a pair of boots thrown in with a few other miscellaneous items. Upon pulling them out and inspecting them further Rodney decided this was probably her gear, the uniform was distinctly Genii. He threw everything in his backpack, closed the locker, and made his way back toward the main level of the city before he ran into anyone else down here.

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When Sheppard had shown up to remove Sora from the doctor's care with a pair of marines standing one step behind him with weapons in hand, she had assumed that she was going to be making a return trip to the cell she had previously occupied. The man had glared at her and told her that they would be moving her to other quarters, but he seemed bent on keeping her in the dark, offering no further explanation.

The empty living quarters that they had given her were a large improvement over the brig. He'd motioned her into the room, left his marines at the door, and stepped into the room with her, the door sealing their privacy.

She took a quick loop around the room, seeing that she had her own bathroom and a real bed this time. Someone must have put a good word in for her, or at the very least prevented Sheppard from cordoning her off back in the brig. She sat down on the edge of the bed and stared at the soldier that McKay seemed so keen on defending all the time despite the resentment he seemed to harbor toward her. "So what happens now major?"

"Well, I would have you back in the brig as I am sure you are aware. Beckett seems to be of the impression that your presence here is…" he almost choked on the next word, "_beneficial_ to McKay's rehabilitation after what you and your Genii friends put him through."

"Sheppard, I know that you want someone to blame, and I'm as good as anyone I assume. It helps that Beckett's no longer protecting me against your wrath. I know your look; it's a look of a man who wants to crack someone's skull in."

Sheppard didn't refute the statement, "Well, McKay didn't exactly beg to be tortured by Kolya or taken on a jaunt to the mainland to participate in a jumper crash and a hike across the flooded continent."

Sora ran a hand over the bedspread, "I didn't ask for that either. I was operating under orders of my commanding officer, as a soldier I am sure you can relate to that."

"Sure, I follow orders on most occasions. But I also know the difference between a proper order from a good leader and a bad order from a homicidal maniac. I would like to assume that you at least have that level of intelligence."

She sighed, "I made a mistake, and we should never have come here. And at the end I realized that. If you remember I also helped your people get medical assistance to McKay-"

"Don't you dare!" Sheppard began to pace, "You don't have the right to even try to play that chip. It was you who injured Mckay in the first place, then forced him to suffer further harm. And the cherry on the cake had to be how you told Teyla that you weren't going to tell them where to find my friend, my unconscious, sick, _injured_ friend, until you were promised safe travel off world back to Menara for you and your men." Sheppard stopped right in front of her and glared down at her.

"…I'm sorry," she whispered softly, "I can't undo what we did, and I'm sorry."

"No, you can't undo the damage you've done to McKay. And know that you have done damage. But you are going to help him recover from this. Beckett says that Mckay has chosen to open up about all this crap to you for whatever reason, and I have been _ordered _to not interfere with that development. McKay needs to talk out this crap with someone. That's the only reason you're here instead of the brig."

Sora looked up at him with a confused expression on her face, "What am I supposed to do?"

"Whatever it takes. I don't care what it takes, but you sure as hell better figure it out. The man that I saw laying that Beckett's infirmary isn't my friend; it's some cheap parody that flinches every time I moved or raised my voice or moved too quickly."

She thought that over for a minute, "…What if I can't fix him?"

Sheppard began moving away toward the door, "Well then I don't care how much Beckett bitches. You'll be mine to deal with." With that he exited the room, the doors cutting off his footsteps as they echoed down the hallway.

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	22. Cuts Close to Home

**Author's note** – Well folks, there isn't much left after this chapter. I look back on this fic and so much has happened that I didn't expect, from the wonderful reception I have received from loyal reviewers, to perhaps the biggest shocker for me at least, which was the direction this story led in. I have never shipped anything, let alone a Rodney/Sora pairing. But it somehow evolved…For that I apologize to the fans that expected gen, that is what I promised and what I thought it would come out as. But plots sometimes take on a mind of their own and drag you into totally foreign territory. I think it seemed like a natural progression in this fic and I'll stand by it, I hope you guys have enjoyed the path this story has followed as well. And as always, I've rambled too long, without further delay, the next chapter!

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**Chapter 22 - Cuts Close to Home**

McKay approached the doors to Sora's current quarters, pausing in front of the pair or marines that were guarding the entrance. "Uh, hey guys. I'm just here to visit Sora. I've been told that I would be allowed in."

The one to the left of the door nodded and backed away, allowing Rodney to walk past him and through the doors.

He went to open his backpack and survey the stuff he'd brought for Sora when he heard movement behind him, immediately prompting him to reclose his bag and spin around to face the perpetrator. Standing there was the marine who had just allowed him entry. "Has Sheppard instigated a new stalker protocol that I haven't been informed of? Last time I checked invasion of privacy wasn't standard either."

"Sir, we've been told that the Genii woman is not permitted to be alone with you or any other member of the expedition."

"Of course, let me guess, Sheppard put you up to this?"

The soldier didn't rise to the bait, instead remaining his neutral demeanor. "Dr. McKay, I'm sorry if this wasn't what you expected, but it's what we've been ordered to do."

"Ok, yeah, I'll take your avoidance of the topic as an affirmative on Sheppard being behind those orders. Need I remind you that I am the chief engineer and am capable of making your life very unpleasant. Let's say three weeks of cold water in your shower? I could arrange for that."

The soldier thought it over for a moment and then backed out toward the door. "We'll be outside if you need us then."

McKay didn't turn his attention away until the soldier had exited and the door had closed behind him. He looked around the room and upon not seeing Sora anywhere headed toward the balcony to check there for her. "Sora, you out here?"

Sora inhaled the ocean breeze deeply and closed her eyes, letting the wind blow her hair into her face. There was something to be said for finally having gotten out of windowless room in the infirmary that she'd spent the past few days in.

Rodney popped his head out onto the balcony, "Oh, there you are. I thought I'd come to visit. Everything up to snuff with the room and all?"

She brushed the hair behind her ear and smiled, "It's a large improvement from the brig or an infirmary room. The view is spectacular. We don't have any bodies of water like this near my city. It's amazing."

McKay took in a deep breath of the salted breeze, "I'm down in my labs so much, it's hard to remind myself to step out here once in awhile and take a look at this place. The city's a technological marvel; don't get me wrong, I can appreciate that more than anyone else. But the sunset off one of these balconies is one of the most underappreciated features of Atlantis."

Sora nodded, "How have you been filling your time since Beckett released you?"

McKay shook his head and moved up to stand next to her at the railing, "He wouldn't let me go back to work right away so I've mostly just been taking it easy. Oh, I did manage to find your stuff I think," he said, holding the bag up by its shoulder strap toward Sora.

Her breath quickened, she hadn't dared hope that McKay actually find her stuff and smuggle it in here. She hadn't realized how homesick she was without any connection to home. It might just be a uniform and some other possessions, but for now, it was all she had to connect her to her home, and more importantly, to her father.

She took the bag from McKay's outstretched hand and immediately began rifling through it, pulling out her boots and uniform and settling them on the ground before searching for one particular item. Her breath hitched as her hand settled on the item she feared would be gone. She drew the knife out of by its hilt and held it up in the sun to examine it.

There was a flurry of movement next to her as Rodney scrambled to the other end of the balcony, eyes wide and breathing heavily. He didn't speak, just stood there, muscles tensed and knuckles white as he gripped the railing for support, but his eyes never left the weapon.

Sora dropped her hand to her side, knife still in hand, "Rodney, what's wrong?"

"Why do you have that?"

She looked down at the knife and then back up to him, "It was my father's. It was what I wanted you to retrieve for me."

"Put it away…please?" Rodney begged in an almost hysterical voice.

She slid it back into the bag and set it down on the ground, "What's wrong Rodney?"

He let out a nervous laugh, "I haven't had the best experiences with knives recently."

Sora looked at the hand rubbing at the bandaged arm and it clicked. Fuck, he'd been tortured twice. Her eyes immediately dipped to the floor in shame. She got it, she did, they were wrong to come here and do what they had done, but she would love to just go five minutes without being reminded of it. Not that she could blame McKay for this one, she could relate.

She gently nudged the bag with the knife in it behind her with a foot and walked forward toward the still tensed McKay. "You were tortured. You have every right to be knife shy."

McKay sank down to a sitting position on the ground, leaning up against the balcony railing, "I feel like a coward every time. It happened in the infirmary too, Carson was taking out a few of my sutures with a scalpel and I freaked out. He's been tiptoeing around me ever since. I know it's stupid, it's irrational. But it's like someone flips a switch in my brain and I just see the knife and react," he muttered quietly.

She crouched down in front of him and grabbed the hand that was still rubbing at the arm and set it aside. She began unwrapping the bandage layer by layer with her one available hand until she was looking at the pinkish skin, the beginnings of a fine scar. She ran a finger over it, "This will always remind you. But you choose what it stands for. You can let it represent Kolya having proven his superiority over you, him having instilled you with fear for his authority if that's what you'd like."

"Well that's not all angsty at all. Way to help a guy feel better," McKay grumbled although there was no sting in the words. He just needed to say something to show that he was getting over his moment of weakness.

"It is a sad thought, but there is another option Rodney. It may represent your victory over him. You saved your city; you prevented Kolya from taking Atlantis from you. _You _did all of that. Let this scar commemorate that success."

"It's a nice thought and all…but how does that help me with the knife thing? I can't go into the mess and ask the chefs to hide all of their cutlery every time I want a cup of coffee; I can't ask Sheppard to not carry a blade when we go off world. I'm a wreck…"

Sora released his arm and settled back against the railing next to him, "Rodney, the two incidents are related. Kolya took a blade to your arm, and now you can't look at a blade without flinching. You are letting him win this right now. He's dead and gone Rodney, what are you afraid of when you see a knife, what is going through your head? Is your mind going to Kolya?"

"No…yes? I don't know. I see him doing it again; I can feel the steel on my skin. Even if it's not real, try telling that to my mind. It can create a pretty gruesome mental substitute."

Sora reached for the zipper on her jumpsuit and began pulling it down.

"Whoa! Sora, I know we're kind of friends and all but I somehow don't think _that _is what I need to get me over this. Although…"

Sora rolled her eyes, "Men, you all think with your groin first. Look," she prompted as she pulled the shirt open at the very top to expose the front of her shoulder.

Rodney's eyes widened as examined the raised pink pattern, a symbol that he didn't recognize "What is this?"

"It's a brand mark. Also courtesy of Kolya. A 'bonding ritual' for our unit. I had a nasty fire phobia for awhile after the fact."

"He…he did this to you? That's barbaric!"

"Brutal? Yes. Another one of his intimidation tactics, a way to show his dominance over us, he branded each one of us himself and fed us some bullshit about how it bound us to him, to follow his orders as one cohesive unit and honor the Genii people."

"But on the mainland you were fine with our campfires…"

Sora traced the brand mark lightly with a finger, "I chose what this mark meant to me. For awhile, Kolya won, fire was another tool in his arsenal of ways to keep us in line, scare us, intimidate me. He liked to light up his pipe while we ate. I'd leave the room."

"So what did you do? How did you get over it?"

"I got tired of the humiliation and of letting him win. I came to realize that fire wasn't a thing to fear, it's a tool. A useful one at that, it helped keep us alive out on the continent. What matters is who wields the tool. Kolya was an ass, he wielded it as a weapon to keep me and my comrades in line," she finished, leaning forward to retrieve the bag from where she abandoned it.

She looked back over at McKay who had tensed again. She pulled the bag into her lap and sat back down. Reaching into the bag she slowly drew the knife out again. "This is a tool McKay. You choose what it represents. It represents Kolya and his victory over you, or your victory over him."

She twirled it in her hand, Rodney's eyes following the glint of the sun on the blade. He hadn't shrunk back this time though; every ounce of his self-restraint was keeping him glued to that spot. He could do this. He needed to do this. "It's not just a simple snap of the finger and everything goes back to the way it was before. I know that much."

Sora nodded, "You're right. The first step is deciding that you want to overcome your fear. The next is a systematic desensitization to the knife, or fire in my case I suppose. I started by hovering on the edges of camp when they started up the fire at night. Every night I'd make myself move one length closer to the fire. And no, every night it didn't go perfectly, there were setbacks. But I worked at it until I could sit on the edge of the circle and stare at that bastard Kolya across the flames."

"How do I start?"

She looked up from the knife to meet his gaze, "You already have, you're here aren't you, instead of at the other end of the balcony? That's progress."

He cocked his head for a moment as if to think that over for a minute or so before holding his scarred arm forward, hand open, "Uh, can I hold it maybe? Just for a second or two?"

She dropped the hilt into his outstretched hand gently. To his credit he didn't drop it or flinch away. He gingerly closed his hand around it and held it up at eyelevel, looking at the symbols etched into the handle. "It's beautiful. It was your father's?"

"Yes, it's been in my family for many years. It was his most prized possession."

"I'm glad I could get it back to you," Rodney said as he handed the knife back off to her. He'd actually held it, that was enough progress for one day. He'd work up to being able to carry one again another time. "So what happens now?"

"Well, you aren't shying away, that's progress," Sora added in an encouraging tone.

"I mean to you. What do you want? As pretty as the scenery is, I can't imagine that you'll be content to look at it idly forever."

She shrugged, "What choice do I have? Your people don't trust me."

"I mean…do you want to stay here? We could find a place for you here."

"But in what capacity, Rodney? I am a soldier. I want to fight the wraith. It was you who suggested I channel my anger over the death of my father at them instead of at Teyla and your people. Would Sheppard let me fight with your people toward that end?"

Rodney sighed and shook his head, "No, I can't see that happening. So what does that leave, you going back to Genii?"

"You speak as if your people will let me walk through the gate unchallenged back to the people who just attempted a takeover of this city."

"Let's forget about what is realistic for a moment. What do _you _want?"

"I want to fight the wraith. Going back to Genii would mean more politics, more subterfuge against your people. I would be fighting the wrong people. Maybe going to another planet where the people might take me in. I know of a few planets where there is technology similar to what we have on Genii. Maybe I would be able to join them."

Rodney frowned slightly but straightened his shoulders, "This is what you want then? To go to another planet and take up the fight?"

"Rodney, first, I have a feeling that I will be a prisoner here for some time. But theoretically, yes. I would miss you of course, but all of us, the humans throughout the galaxy and beyond, we are in this fight together. If this experience has taught me anything it has been that. The squabbling that our people are currently engaged in, it's just helping the wraith. Divided, we are weaker. If we want any chance of succeeding in this, every person has to fight in whatever capacity they can. For you, that's being here and figuring out the mysteries that Ancients have left for us. For me, if I could, I would go back to the military. That is what I know." She shook her head, "but what use are such dreams when we're stuck with this reality?"

"Hey, dreams are worth something. Who would've even dreamt two weeks ago that we would be here, me with a Genii, having a civilized conversation about how the futures of our peoples are fused together?"

She nodded in agreement and they sat there for a few moments in silence before McKay began climbing to his feet, "I need to go, there's a few things I need to look into."

Sora packed the items back into the bag, sliding the knife in last, "Oh, of course. You should take these for now. God knows what Sheppard would do if he found them on me. I can rest easy knowing you'll have them."

Mckay reached down for the bag, closing it and slinging it over his shoulder. "You staying out here?"

"Yes, for a little while at least. I may be here for awhile yet, but the beauty of this world hasn't exhausted itself on me yet. The sunset is unlike any I have seen before."

He smiled, "Hang in there, I'll figure out something with this whole prisoner status thing, I promise." On that note, he turned to leave, throwing one final look over his shoulder to see the sun bask the Genii woman's face in an orange glow. He shook his head as he left the room; trust a beautiful woman from another planet to turn his world on its head.

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	23. Remember This

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**Chapter 23 – Remember This**

Rodney looked out at the sea from the railing; it looked more ominous with the sun set below the horizon, a black churning landscape battering the side of the Ancient city. He double checked his work straddling the railing, a leg on either side, and then flipping all the way over, gripping the rope ladder and beginning the descent. His arm protested a bit at the strain, he hadn't used it much since being discharged from the infirmary. This was as good a test as any to see how well it had recovered, he supposed.

Rodney resisted the urge to look down. He didn't mind heights if he was secure within a jumper or standing on a balcony with a railing between him and the plunge into the ocean. It was a bit different from this point of view. Granted he was only three stories up from the water, but he knew the impact from this height would be similar to landing on solid concrete. Plenty enough to knock him out and leave him to drown since no one knew he was out here.

Ok, enough with the grim mental imagery, he thought to himself. He needed to focus. He squinted his eyes against the deafening wind that was mercilessly pounding against him. He lowered himself rung by rung on the rope ladder until one foot landed on a solid surface. McKay let out a relieved sigh and released his grip on the metal crossbar of the ladder.

Sora wasn't out here, so he headed into the room, scanning for any sign of the Genii woman. The room was silent save for a rustling of blankets. He quickly crossed the space to the bed, Sora was sleeping, he felt a tinge of regret for having to disturb her but he knelt down next to her, shaking her shoulder gently and whispering, "Sora, it's Rodney. We need to go."

She rubbed at her face once but didn't stir beyond that. How could a soldier be a heavy sleeper, he thought. Weren't they supposed to snap awake at the slightest noise? That being an important survival skill and all…

Something clamped around his wrist and cut off the nudging motion he had still been carrying out. He stifled a surprised grunt and tried to pull away. A wary pair of eyes were watching him, "Sora, it's Rodney. I'm getting you off world. But we need to go now," he pleaded again.

As she moved to sit up she relaxed her grip, "Sorry, reflex. How'd you get in here without me hearing the door?"

Mckay rubbed at his wrist, "Oh, I came down from the balcony up. I needed to avoid the guards. I didn't think they'd let me take you for a midnight stroll through the city."

She rolled off the bed to land on her feet, "Let's go then."

"You think you can climb a rope ladder? It's the only way I could think to get in here."

She rolled her shoulder a few times, a slight wince betraying the pain it was causing her. She unbuckled the sling and slowly slid her arm out of it, "I'll manage."

Rodney was about to tell her that she probably shouldn't be using that arm yet, but then thought better of it. She was a grown woman, a soldier. She knew pain and if she thought she could do it he would have to trust her. She was going to need both hands with the gusty wind out there anyways.

He dropped the pack off his shoulder and threw it to her, "You uniform's in there. Change real quick and we'll go."

Out of modesty and without being asked he turned and walked back out to the balcony to give her some privacy. Less than a minute later there were footsteps behind him and he turned to face them. He took in a sharp breath, a bit startled at her appearance. Up till now he'd seen her in the orange and hardly flattering prison jumpsuit, and for awhile the military fatigues of the Atlantis Marine Corps when she'd stolen a uniform for their romp across the continent. The last time she had appeared as a Genii in appearance was during the storm. He leveled out his breathing. This was Sora, she was Genii by blood. She was also his friend; she wasn't going to hurt him.

Sora broke the awkward silence by holding the bag back out to him and then finished by sliding the knife into a scabbard hanging on her belt. Mckay watched her put it away and then spoke, "We're going to go up the way I came down, this'll take us up to the next level. You go first and I'll follow, just wait at the top for me."

Sora was used to following commands and she didn't question McKay on this one, this was his operation. She began climbing.

McKay held his breath, this was the one part of this plan he'd been worried about, how Sora would fair with that arm on the windy climb, "Watch your grip all the way up, the wind gets stronger as you go higher," he shouted over the wind. The warning wasn't necessary though, he thought in approval as Sora disappeared over the railing above. Rodney quickly followed, pulling the ladder up over the railing as he finished, rolling it up and throwing it into his pack.

"Where to now?" Sora asked as Rodney peaked into the empty quarters that connected to this balcony.

"The gate room. There's a transporter near here that will drop us off very close to it," he whispered back to her as he led the way through the room and to the hallway, heading out into the corridor after ensuring they were empty. He would've been more surprised if there had been anyone out this late. Usually that honor was reserved for the likes of him working on a critical project, marines patrolling the city on their endless loops, and a few random sleepless residents of the city.

He quickly led the way through the route he had memorized before coming down, he needed this to run perfectly. He stepped into the transporter, Sora looking a little puzzled at the closet-looking enclosure before following him in. He punched the destination into the panel and when the doors opened a second later to a totally new destination Sora's eyes were wide. He couldn't help but smile a bit. It seemed routine to him now, but there had been a time when he'd felt the same way. It rekindled his appreciation for the Ancients' ingenuity; he didn't often pause to remember the miracles he witnessed every day such as these.

He motioned for her to stay in the transporter even as he stepped out and stuck his head around the corner to see who was around. Just the pair of night techs at the control board on the floor above the gate. He pulled his tablet out of his bag and stood a bit straighter; putting on the stern expression he used to intimidate the newcomers to the city or anyone who wouldn't understand his technical babble.

Sora couldn't see anything from her position up against the wall of the transporter where Rodney had indicated she should wait, there were a few exchanges of quiet voices intermixed with Rodney's loud, dominating voice. The one bit she did catch was how lowly night techs, who couldn't even make the roster to monitor the gate during the day when teams would actually be using it, had no chance of beginning to comprehend his very important, advanced research and just needed to get out of the way.

Her lip curved up a bit. What a front Rodney could put up, she thought. She'd seen the other side, the softer side, and even if other people didn't see it, it did exist and shone with a vibrant tenderness she hadn't experienced in many other individuals, in her people or any of those she had encountered in her gate travel.

There was a clomping of boots on metal stairs before he poked a head back into the transporter a moment later, "Ok, we're good for now. I told them I needed to run some diagnostics on the gate and that it was probably better I did it now, when no one needed it, instead of during the day when one of our teams could be retreating from the wraith or something."

She pushed off the wall and the pair headed into the gate room. He led her up to the control console and sat down, running through a flurry of keyboard commands too quickly for her eyes to follow. The man really was in his element here. A series of familiar symbols appeared on the panel, gate symbols. It was time for her to depart Atlantis.

McKay rose from his chair and stood in front of her, eyes meeting hers, "You've picked a world?"

She nodded, "Yes, I believe I have located one where I might find refuge. My people trade regularly with them."

"Ok, punch the address. After we do that and the gate activates though, we need to move quickly. I managed to chase the gate operators out with a little intimidation, but a gate activation won't go unnoticed, there'll be people down here very rapidly for an unscheduled activation."

She began pressing the keys one at a time; occasionally looking up to the see the gate lock in each chevron. She paused her administrations over the final one, her fingers hovering in the air just above it, "This is it then?"

Rodney scrunched his brow a bit and he spoke in a solemn tone, "We both want to fight the wraith. That battle is on different worlds for us," he looked down as he produced a small oval-shaped item in his hand and held it out, "This is for you. It's what took me a bit longer, I needed to make sure it worked and then there was some fine-tuning. You can use this to signal me if you need help. It can broadcast pretty long range, but you'd have to drop it close to this planet for the sensors here to pick it up."

He flipped it over to reveal a series of symbols that had been etched into the metal surface, "this is the gate address where you should go to leave it, it's close enough that I'll know it's been activated. You can do an audio recording, let me know where you are and I'll come if I'm able."

She nodded in appreciation and took the small metal disc from his warm hand her fingers staying in contact with his just a moment longer than necessary, maybe this wasn't the end then, "Thank you, Rodney."

He nodded and laid his now empty hand over hers, pressing it down on the last chevron key. The gate locked it in and the familiar puddle formed.

He ushered her down the steps quickly until they stood right in front of the gate. He'd silenced the alarm so the gate room was quiet, but even now, across the city the senior staff would be awakened and informed of the activation, there were some sets of commands tied into the gate that he couldn't override. Sora had slipped the disc into her pockets and wrapped her hands around Rodney's, pulling him a bit closer to her, "Rodney, thank you again. I know this will put you in trouble with your own people. You're giving me my life back; just know that I am grateful for that."

He blushed a bit and looked away for a moment but Sora brushed a finger against his cheek, turning his face till their gazes met, "We will meet again, Rodney."

"I know…I just, we're not going to get to explore this, us, at all. It doesn't seem fair-"

He was cut off as lips pressed against his, and his body was drawn in closer to Sora's as she locked her arms around him. He fumbled awkwardly for a moment before responding in turn, it had been far too long since he'd last held a woman, any woman that he'd grown this fond of. And it was going to be cut short far too soon.

She pulled away and smiled, "We are at war with the wraith, Rodney. Until that is over, nothing in life is fair," she turned to face the gate and looked back at him one more time, "We may be on different planets with different people, but we are together in this fight. Remember this always," Sora finished as she took a confident step forward, the step of a woman with purpose, her silhouette disappearing behind the blue veil of the gate.

Rodney stood there for a moment, watching the surface of the gate undulate, perhaps a small part of him hoping that she would reappear. That dream was cut short as the gate deactivated, leaving an empty ring where the wormhole had just stood.

He exhaled in a resigned sigh and turned around to examine the gate room, of which he was now the sole occupant.

"So in the end you just let her go?"

Rodney's head snapped up, Sheppard was standing in front of the control console, casually gripping the railing as he looked down at Rodney.

"Sheppard? What are you doing here?"

The colonel gave a shoulder shrug, "Call it a hunch. A couple of skittish sounding gate techs radioed me, said you were up in the gate room unexpectedly. I figured I should probably come up and check out what mischief you were getting yourself into that was worth you scaring the crap out of that pair. It took them repeating it two times before I could understand what they were trying to communicate."

Rodney rubbed the back of his head, "You saw everything?"

"Enough," Sheppard chuckled, "If you mean your make out session, then yeah, I had a front row seat for that one. That alone made rolling out of bed worth it."

"Oh…how much trouble am I in?"

"For releasing an enemy combatant? It should be a pretty good deal."

Rodney sighed, "That sounds about right…Are you angry?" he asked.

Sheppard looked at him for a moment, thinking, before speaking, "Did she fix you?"

Rodney's brow scrunched, "What are you talking about?"

"The knife thing. Did she help you get over it?" he asked as he took the stairs two at a time and walking up to meet McKay.

He shrugged, "She pointed me in the right direction. You're standing here with your knife and I'm not running away. That's something."

"Then I'd consider this an acceptable sacrifice to get my friend back. If Sora really did help you, well, then I don't really care that she's gone. It's one less prisoner to worry about, one less mouth to feed on our already stretched supplies. Plus we already have two others and only so much cell space. This place isn't designed for long term prisoners."

"So what happens now?"

"Well, me personally? I was thinking a trip to the mess was in order. I'm always hungry when I get woken up in the night to come rescue you from whatever problems you keep creating. No one's around to balance that suicidal scientist streak in you during the night. Someone's gotta do it."

"I'm really going to get off this that easily?"

"With me, sure. With Elizabeth? Maybe not so much. But you shouldn't have to face her tirade until at least 9AM at our staff meeting."

"Oh…" McKay said, his shoulders hunching a little at the prospect of having to explain this…

"Yeah," Sheppard finished, "Enough sulking already for now. The city's safe, all the expedition members are cozy in their beds. And most importantly, my friend is acting somewhat like himself again, disregarding rules and such, I'd call that cause enough to celebrate," he said, clapping Rodney on the shoulder as the pair exited the gate room.

Yes, Rodney thought, he'd survived the storm, they all had. And whatever else the Pegasus Galaxy had to throw at them, they'd be ready to face those together too.

THE END

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**Final Note from the Author**

Well all, that's a wrap. It was a good run with some unexpected results both in plot and reception. Again, a gigantic thanks to all you readers and reviewers, you guys having fun with all this really gave me the inspiration to keep pounding away at this behemoth of a fic. You might have noticed that I did leave the ending open for a sequel, and yes, the plot bunnies for such a fic have taken up residence in my head and are planning to stage a coup if I don't let them out soon. I can give a tiny preview, I suppose.

Tentatively, it'll be a post-Arcturus fic. I know that there are a ton of angst/whump tags out there for this episode, and it'll be centered around the fallout between Rodney and Sheppard, but Sora will also be making a reappearance as a central character, it probably isn't fair to just cut their relationship off with the way this fic ended. I think the direction I am going to take it in is pretty unique, and again, that'll probably be a longer fic around 50k words as well when I get around to it.

That may have to wait a bit though, I want to work on my other SGA fic (Wing Men), and I have a 30-40k word Rodney angst story to write for genficathon that is due in two months that I haven't even started yet. But eventually I should be returning to this AU-verse, so keep an eye out for it. Again, this was a wonderful ride, thanks for everyone who made it so much fun!

Yours,

Hollow Echos


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